Iranian students expelled from Hungary during the pandemic may be able to return

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.07.15.

Criminal charges have been dropped against the majority of the Iranian students who were expelled from Hungary in the spring for violating quarantine rules, and the Hungarian authorities have also begun to revoke their expulsion orders.

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.

Valuable archaeological treasures were demolished under a priority construction of the Hungarian government

Zöldi Blanka 2020.07.11.

During the reconstruction of the Buda Hospital, archaeological finds from Roman times were unearthed. Civil engineering works were done by the same company that will be responsible for groundworks related to the Paks nuclear power plant expansion.

Huawei is slowly pushed out from European 5G networks but the Orban government still supports them

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.07.03.

5G rollout has finally started in Hungary during the pandemic. Telenor, the partly state-owned mobile operator could be the lifeline for the beleaguered Chinese company.

“Mr. Russia” is now helping Viktor Orbán’s government to nurture German relations

Szabó András 2020.06.26.

Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman with links to the European and Russian business elites has been advising the Orbán-government for many years. His consultancy contracts obtained by Direkt36 show that Mangold has been recently focusing on deepening Hungarian-German industrial relations.

Tens of thousands of forgotten Hungarians on the frontlines of the coronavirus

Tasnádi Kata, Panyi Szabolcs 2020.06.13. 3 Comments

While the conditions in nursing homes for elderly have become the number one political issue in Hungary, there has been little talk of homes for the disabled and psychiatric patients, or the social workers who provide care to them. Their problems are almost invisible.

Nuclear power plant Paks 2 rescheduled to favor the Russians

Szabó András 2020.06.09. 1 Comment

After two years of negotiations, the Hungarian government adopted during the epidemic an important legal modification related to the Paks nuclear expansion. From now on, the position of the Russians will be stronger and the Hungarian state will bear higher risks.

People close to Orban’s advisor appear in controversial Russia-connected megaproject

Szabó András 2020.05.15. 3 Comments

Preparations for a megaproject in which a Russian-Hungarian company will supply 1300 rail cars to Egypt seem to have accelerated. Simultaneously, people close to Arpad Habony, the PM’s chief advisor, and Zsolt Hernadi, CEO of MOL have appeared inside the firm which co-owns the winning company.

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.

China suspended the export of some COVID-19 tests in April. The Hungarian government had already stocked up on them

Zöldi Blanka 2020.05.02.

Hungarian paramedics are still using tests whose exports were suspended in April. This week, China again loosened export requirements, and it seems that the Hungarian government also managed to find a reliable supplier.

„By now, no one can give even a piece of bread”

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2020.04.27.

For Hungarians living in deep poverty, the world has turned upside down since the coronavirus lockdown. Although poor rural communities have not yet seen a breakout but most jobs are gone and with no savings and barely enough food left, people cannot afford to buy even disinfectants. So far, the government has failed to take action, leaving thousands of starving families without help.

Hungarian ministerial adviser searched for coronavirus masks. He found them at a company where his father is a senior manager

Zöldi Blanka 2020.04.17.

Tons of medical masks and other personal protective equipment are arriving to Hungary almost every day. One of the big winners of the state orders is a little-known Chinese-Hungarian company with family ties to the ministry that handled the procurements.

How once cherished Iranians became coronavirus scapegoats in Orban’s Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.04.02. 1 Comment

Hungary saw great business opportunities in Iran and the Orban government tried to strenghten relations through university scholarships and residence permits. Then the course of world politics and the coronavirus changed everything.

After 15 years of constant reorganization, Hungarian epidemiology was hit hard by coronavirus

Szabó András, Wirth Zsuzsanna 2020.03.29. 3 Comments

Socialist governments crippled the network of state laboratories, Fidesz cut the epidemiologists’ central institution into pieces before trying to reverse the restructuring. Hungarian epidemiology struggles with the pandemic in a weakened state.

God sent this investment. Or the Devil

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Tasnádi Kata 2020.03.09. 1 Comment

Tricksters from a Kyiv-based call center have defrauded vulnerable people from all around the world, luring them with empty promises of profitable investments. Direkt36 has found several Hungarian victims who talk about the psychology of the online fraud machine and what hurts the most.

Businessman linked to the Orbán family has expanded his footprint in city of Hungary’s nuclear plant

Szabó András 2020.03.05.

Roland Sebestyén has business relations with the family of Anikó Lévai, the wife of PM Viktor Orbán. Companies linked to him received contracts in the value of 6.2 million euros in Paks.

„Sold her home to pay, no money, crying”

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Sáling Gergő 2020.03.02. 2 Comments

More than a thousand victims from over 50 countries of the world, among them dozens of Hungarians, were ripped off by sales managers of a company in Ukraine where the boss is known as the ‘Wolf of Kyiv’. The lucrative business was uncovered by an international investigation in which Direkt36 took part from Hungary.

Orbán’s media machine in the Balkans investigated for suspicious transactions

Zöldi Blanka, Szabó András 2020.02.28.

A Hungarian businessman close to the government has expanded his media empire to the Balkans. However, a high-value contract between his Slovenian and North Macedonian companies raised the attention of local authorities.

Hungary pressured by diplomats to stop blocking NATO-Ukraine talks

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.02.13. 7 Comments

There is growing pressure on Hungary’s government to stop blocking high-level Ukraine-NATO meetings. They are accused of doing a favor to Russia, while Hungary says “we’re not blocking just for fun”.

Hungarians could live 5 months longer, but government halts program tackling air pollution

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2020.01.31.

Pollution from fine particulate matter is very high in Hungary, among the worst in the EU and the OECD. The government is aware, a solution has been prepared, but the plans were eventually halted.