Category Archives: Direkt36

The owners of private equity funds, which hide huge wealth, have been removed from the state register, after Direkt36 published an article about them

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2023.07.25.

Earlier this year Direkt36 was able to confirm the identity of the ultimate beneficial owners of dozens of private equity funds from a database managed by NAV, the Hungarian tax authority, but these records have now been deleted. No one takes responsibility for the disappearance of the data.

What happened in Hungary since the Pegasus spyware revelations

Panyi Szabolcs 2023.07.18.

The Hungarian broker company involved in the purchase of the spyware that hacked phones launched a series of lawsuits against us and other media outlets, but lost all of them. In the meantime, however, real investigation into the circumstances of the surveillance has been very slow due to the authorities’ resistance. Direkt36 summarizes the most important developments two years after the scandal broke.

Bracing for US sanctions, Russian financier in Budapest was busy securing personal offshore assets, leaked documents reveal

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Panyi Szabolcs 2023.04.25.

Until last autumn, Nikolay Kosov headed the International Investment Bank, which is leaving Hungary. According to documents obtained by Direkt36, the Russian banker, who has since been hit by US sanctions, was planning to transfer his family’s assets to Dubai.

Database exposes Hungarian oligarchs hiding huge fortunes

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2023.01.19.

Documents prove that pro-government businessmen actually own private equity funds that hide vast fortunes.

How Viktor Orbán decided to arm Hungary

Galavits Patrik 2023.01.10.

Hungary launched a major military development program seven years ago. The prime minister has used it to strengthen his international relationships and also realised the usefulness of the military in domestic politics.

How did Szijjártó’s futsal player friend become a top businessman?

Szőke Dániel 2022.12.06.

We have explored the business successes of Péter Szijjártó’s old colleague and teammate, and how hundreds of millions of forints of public money from the Foreign Ministry contributed to them.

Hungary’s diplomats with controversial backgrounds caught up in an investigation by international journalists

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Marton Kamilla 2022.11.15.

Direkt36 has been part of the “Shadow Diplomats” project, an investigation into the murky world of honorary consuls, led by ICIJ and ProPublica. We found that Hungary is represented by honorary consuls who are accused of crimes such as financing terrorism.

Szexuális bűnözők, drogdílerek, gyilkosok is megbújnak a világ tiszteletbeli konzuljai között

Direkt36 2022.11.15.

Az Árnyék Diplomaták nevű nyomozó újságíró projekt több mint 500, bűncselekményben vagy kétes ügyben érintett tiszteletbeli konzult számolt össze világszerte.

Inside Orbán’s Fidesz party preparing for Hungary’s parliamentary election

Szabó András 2022.03.11.

For some time now, all government proposals land on PM Orbán’s desk with green, yellow, or red post-its. People with inside knowledge about the election strategy of Fidesz described the ruling party’s campaign strategy for the 2022 parliamentary elections and its conscious use of social media.

A Pegasus felemelkedése – a kémszoftver eddig ismert magyar célpontjai

Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.02.06.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Hungarian.

IT entrepreneur with ties to Viktor Orbán’s family has further grown his business empire built on state tenders

Matyasovszki Fanni 2021.12.09.

Information technology businessman Gábor Szentgyörgyi has had close relations to Viktor Orbán’s family for a long time now. It started with a connection to Győző Orbán junior, the prime minister’s brother, through wrestling, then he showed up in the company of the prime minister and his father, Győző Orbán senior in a football stadium, and Read More

While a tax audit is underway at his foundation, the earnings of Péter Antall rise high

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2021.07.22.

The think tank of the late Hungarian PM has been awarded almost 5 million forints from the government so far, yet it made losses in 2020. Earlier, Direkt36 uncovered its problematic spending and costly travels.

It started as a simple patient transfer, but then it showed the chaos in the coronavirus fight

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2020.07.13. 2 Comments

In April, elderly patients were transferred between two Hungarian hospitals without testing. Thus, Covid-19 got into another institution.

How the epidemic disrupted Orbán’s machinery

Szabó András 2020.05.06. 2 Comments

While in the past ten years the government seemed to operate with almost military-style discipline, the last few weeks brought several U-turns from the Orbán administration. Here’s what happened behind the scenes.