Inside the opposition’s crushing defeat against Viktor Orbán

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András, Szabó András, Matyasovszki Fanni, Szőke Dániel 2022.05.17.

The chaos was even bigger inside the campaign than it looked from the outside. Direkt36 has investigated how the opposition, which led in the polls last fall, lost against Viktor Orbán’s governing party yet again.

A tíz legmeghökkentőbb dolog, ami az ellenzéki kampányban történt

Pethő András 2022.05.17.

Számos új részletet tártunk fel az ellenzéki választási kampányról. Kigyűjtöttük a legérdekesebbeket.

The cost of the MNB’s new prestige investment, given to a friend of Matolcsy’s son, has been very high

Szőke Dániel 2022.04.29.

The bank headed by György Matolcsy has spent tens of billions of public money on the renovation of the Postal Palace without knowing much about the background of the project. According to an internal report, the work was beautiful, but “it did not meet the criteria of austerity”.

The attorney became a Pegasus target when one of Hungary’s most notorious murder cases took a turn

Panyi Szabolcs, Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.03.31.

Ilona Patócs is not the first lawyer to be targeted, despite the fact that protecting client communication is an essential part of her job, Direkt36 has learned. Nor is she the only target to have been involved in a Portik case.

Putin’s hackers gained full access to Hungary’s foreign ministry networks, the Orbán government has been unable to stop them

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.03.29.

Russian state actors hacked into the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s computer network compromising internal correspondence and even a secure network that transmits classified information. The recurring cyberattacks over the past decade were kept quiet by the Orbán government, and have not been successfully countered. With the help of internal documents and background interviews, Direkt36 exposes Russian cyber espionage against Hungary’s MFA.

Former Hungarian ambassador to China was targeted with Pegasus – shortly before becoming senior advisor to Orbán

Panyi Szabolcs, Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.03.22.

Cecília Szilas is not the first high-ranking Hungarian official who was targeted with the Pegasus spyware. Her phone was added to the list during her stint at a conflict-ridden company called Dunaferr, shortly before becoming the Prime Minister’s senior advisor on China.

Inside Viktor Orbán’s war for Index, Hungary’s most influential news website

Pethő András 2022.03.18.

Index had long been a primary target for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s media crackdown. The final assault came in the disguise of a business maneuver and now the site is part of the government’s powerful media machinery.

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.

“Please, don’t report about this at all! Thanks!” – How the Hungarian state news agency censors politically unpleasant news

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2022.03.07.

Documents obtained by Direkt36 show how the government dictates the news at Hungarian state news agency MTI. Self-censorship also plays a crucial role in shaping the content of MTI.

Leaked documents show how Orbán’s circle dictates the news at Hungary’s state news agency

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2022.03.04.

According to internal letters obtained by Direkt36, one of Viktor Orbán’s closest colleagues once dictated a piece of news to the Hungarian Telegraph Office. There is also a separate instruction that not only the ministry’s announcements must be published practically verbatim, but also the statements of Lőrinc Mészáros’s group of companies.

Spies, business deals and criminals. How Orbán favors Russian interests instead of Western ones

Panyi Szabolcs, Szabó András 2022.03.01.

In the past 12 years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has gotten into a situation many times, when they had to decide between the interests of Western allies, or Russia. Direkt36 has revealed many cases, where, in the end, the government favored Vladimir Putin and his circles. It occurred, for example, that they drove a Hungarian company out of business, just to be able to make space for a Russian firm.

A brand new Porsche, a special Ferrari, and billionaire businesses show the rise of Matolcsy’s circle

Szőke Dániel 2022.02.22.

Direkt36 presents the connection between businessman Ádám Matolcsy, the son of the issue-bank’s director, and the entrepreneur Bálint Fülöp Somlai, who also controls billionaire state tenders with exclusive photos. We also show the story of their enrichment and how their luxurious lifestyle is being helped by state businesses.

A Pegasus felemelkedése – a kémszoftver eddig ismert magyar célpontjai

Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.02.06.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Hungarian.

Inside the internal government conflict over the permit for the controversial Paks 2 nuclear power plant

Szabó András 2022.01.31.

Direkt36 learned that the construction permit for the Paks 2 nuclear power plant caused a conflict between two government members, László Palkovics and János Süli. Süli wanted the long-awaited green light for the project, but due to serious problems in the Russian plans identified by Palkovics’s team the government decided not to issue the permit.

Another Pegasus target with political ties: a lawyer who oversees elections and worked for opposition party Jobbik

Pethő András, Szabó András 2022.01.27.

László Vértesy was targeted in the fall of 2018 when he was still the owner and director of an institute that had helped opposition party Jobbik in the last parliamentary election campaign.

Orbánék leszerződtették a Pegasus kémszoftver gyártójának korábbi lobbistáját

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.01.24.

Egy olyan washingtoni lobbistát szerződtetett 2021 végén a magyar kormány, aki egészen odáig az okostelefonok feltörésére alkalmas Pegasus kémszoftvert kifejlesztő izraeli cégnek dolgozott

Így ellenőrizheted, megfigyelték-e az iPhone-odat a Pegasus kémszoftverrel

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.12.23.

Kiket figyeltek meg a kémszoftverrel? Az én telefonom is rajta lehet a Pegasus? Hogyan működik a program, amelyikkel meg lehet találni a megfigyelés nyomait? Kérdések és válaszok a Direkt36-tól.

“Seller shall not undertake maintenance” – hospitals struggled with smoking, incompatible Chinese ventilators

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2021.12.21.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed unfavorable terms in a series of pricy contracts. What did hospitals do with Chinese ventilators?

Hungarian president’s closest bodyguards targeted with Pegasus spyware

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.12.13.

Targeting the president’s bodyguards may have been related to the internal struggle within the security agencies, which intensified after the Counter Terrorism Center wanted to find out the details of President János Áder’s schedules, a Direkt36 investigation has found. Even the smallest details of Áder’s activity could be monitored through the surveillance of his bodyguards with Pegasus.

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