A box of excrement was sent to the Hungarian Embassy in Warsaw, president Katalin Novák was lectured by the Polish prime minister, and Viktor Orbán’s European ambitions were jeopardized. Direkt36, in cooperation with Vsquare, have uncovered the behind the scenes story of the Hungarian-Polish alliance, which previously seemed unbreakable, since the outbreak of the war.
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How Viktor Orbán angered his closest friends in Europe
Cyber companies accompanied the Israeli Prime Minister to Budapest, later one of them trained foreign intelligence officials in Hungary
A company that sells surveillance intelligence technology accompanied Benjamin Netanyahu to his visit to Hungary in 2017. Direkt36 found out details about how later this company trained Bangladeshi secret agents in Budapest, during which they probably illegally intercepted Hungarian telephone conversations.
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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.
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We looked into the contracts signed by the Hungarian government with “Mr. Russia”
Direkt36 looked into the content of consultancy contracts that the Hungarian government signed last year with Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman dubbed Mr. Russia for his Russian relations. These showed among others that he was entitled for a lucrative success fee in exchange for his assistance in the buy-back of the Budapest Airport.
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Inside Viktor Orbán’s Response to the War in Ukraine
Viktor Orbán came home from his talks with Vladimir Putin saying that he did not expect war. When it did break out, there was some wavering on the continuation of the government’s pro-Russian policy, but in the end, there was no change of direction because of the importance of Russian natural gas as well as longtime anti-Western sentiments.
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A 10 legfontosabb részlet az Orbán háborús döntéseiről szóló tényfeltáró cikkből
Mi érdekelte Putyint, amikor februárban találkozott Orbánnal? Miért látta lehetőségnek a háborút Rogán a kampányban? Miért nézi rossz szemmel az USA-t a magyar miniszterelnök? Itt vannak a nyomozásunk legizgalmasabb részletei.
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Western allies puzzled by Hungary’s mild reaction to Russian hacking
Russia’s hacking of the Hungarian foreign ministry is a concern for the EU, and the U.S. has already warned Hungary and other allies about the dangers of Russian cyberattacks. The Orbán government could in principle ask for EU help to tackle the problem, but there is no sign so far that it will do so.
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Former Hungarian ambassador to China was targeted with Pegasus – shortly before becoming senior advisor to Orbán
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.
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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.
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“Please, don’t report about this at all! Thanks!” – How the Hungarian state news agency censors politically unpleasant news
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.
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Leaked documents show how Orbán’s circle dictates the news at Hungary’s state news agency
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.
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Entrepreneur enriched by state tenders starts a new business on the Orbáns’ family land
Gábor Szentgyörgyi, a wrestling acquaintance of Viktor Orbán’s brother, has so far been a big winner in state tenders with his IT group, but now he is starting a plastic business on the Orbán-family’s estates.
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Prominent business allies of Viktor Orbán’s government had secret offshore businesses, Pandora Papers reveal
Nearly 12 million confidential documents were leaked about secret offshore companies, investigated by the world’s largest international collaboration of journalists. Direkt36 was also part of the project and revealed that influential Hungarian pro-government figures including Balázs Kertész and Gellért Jászai also had offshore interests.
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He has been uncovering the lavish lifestyle of Viktor Orbán’s circles. This summer, he was surveilled with Pegasus spyware
Photographer-journalist Dániel Németh has spent years investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary’s ruling elite, following them with his camera as they travelled around Europe. This time, however, someone was watching him too.
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PM Orbán tried to prevent hospital dramas with vaccination. In the end, he could only hide them
Despite flaws in February, how did the Hungarian government manage to present its epidemiological measures as a success in the eyes of the public? Here is the background story of Hungary’s third COVID-19 wave.
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Inside the secrets of the Orbán family’s businesses
Viktor Orbán claims that he does not have any savings, but his family members have earned millions of euros in recent years, partly from public money from the Hungarian state and the European Union. We explain how we investigated the businesses of Orbán’s family in an animated video.
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The mine of the Orbán family pays the highest dividend among its competitors
According to the latest data available, Dolomit Kft. paid 1,8 billion forints (4,98 million euros) as dividends in 2019, which is more than the thirteen times more than the sectorial average.
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Until now, Orbán’s family has stayed away from public procurements. Now the company of his brother won a lucrative one
Gamma Analcont, a company minority owned by one of Viktor Orban’s younger brothers, won a high-value public procurement for the remote monitoring of gas-networks of E.ON.
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A fugitive wanted for murder became a businessman in Budapest under false identity
Haris Ahmed has escaped from Bangladesh, where his brother currently serves as Army Chief. The man had been on the Interpol’s Red Notice list for years, now he is using his connections at home to enrich himself in Europe.
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Inside Viktor Orbán’s slow response to the second wave of COVID19
Fidesz politicians believed in the forecast of Central Bank president György Matolcsy that the pandemic would only have a mild impact on the Hungarian economy, but GDP data showed a different reality.
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