Direkt36

“If you are new to this, I’ll see you through it all the way” – The internet is full of ads in Hungarian recruiting sex workers, but authorities see no problem with them

Although encouraging prostitution is a criminal offence In Hungary, the authorities say there is nothing wrong with openly advertising foreign sex work to Hungarian women. Direkt36 looked behind the sex work advertisements as part of an international investigative project.

Fotó: Cnarr-Tchad / Facebook ; Illusztráció: Telex

Uncovering the secret African mission of Viktor Orbán’s son

The son of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has tried to hide his involvement in the planned Hungarian military mission in Chad in an almost comical way. The government was also secretive, but when they discovered that Direkt36 and the French newspaper Le Monde had obtained evidence of Gáspár Orbán’s involvement in the Chad military project, they were quick to make it public. Here is the story of the revelation.

The “Sovereignty Protection Authority” is harmful and against the rule of law, yet it cannot intimidate independent media

The newly adopted “Sovereignty Protection” law does not expressly regulate the operation of media companies, it is, however, capable of severely restricting the freedom of the press. It is meant to directly undermine democratic debate in general, and should be entirely rejected.

How Viktor Orbán decided to arm Hungary

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?

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.

Illusztráció: Szarvas / Telex

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

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.

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

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.

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

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 […]

Közpénzből járja a világ luxushoteleit Antall József fia, az Orbán-rendszer nagy nyertese

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

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

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