In an interview with Telex following the election, former Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 spent a long time defending himself and the government in which he served, but during the more than three-hour conversation, he also revealed some important details about an interesting personal connection.<\/p>\n
It was already known that he was on good terms with a man named Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151, but he has now revealed that the two of them have been best friends for thirty years. Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 also revealed that it was Benk\u0151 who invited him and his family on vacation in 2020 aboard the luxury yacht Lady MRD, which was also used by other members of the pro-government elite at the time for lavish trips. At the time of the vacation, the yacht was owned by a company belonging to billionaire L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Sz\u00edjj, a businessman with ties to Fidesz.<\/p>\n
In the interview, Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 expressed some criticism of the fact that the press often writes about the man, \u201ceven though his only \u2018crime\u2019 is\u201d that he is on friendly terms with him.<\/p>\n
He was presumably referring to the articles in which Direkt36 revealed that Benk\u0151\u2019s companies had, for years, regularly received funding or high-value contracts through organizations or projects linked to Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n
We have uncovered that one of the companies owned by Benk\u0151, a former close associate of Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, received hundreds of millions of forints in non-repayable grants in 2020 from an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We also discovered that one of Benk\u0151\u2019s construction companies was involved in several large-scale projects, each backed by tens of billions of forints in state funding, which Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3\u2019s ministry also played an active role in launching.<\/p>\n
In the interview, Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 emphasized that he had nothing to do with any of this. He also stated that \u201cSzil\u00e1rd never, not even once, asked me for any help in connection with his business activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, however, Direkt36 uncovered another connection between Benk\u0151 and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3. We discovered that Benk\u0151\u2019s construction company, Verbau Kft., even managed to secure a high-value contract in distant Rwanda as part of a consortium, financed by the state-owned EXIM Bank. The deal took place within the framework of an aid program that P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 personally negotiated with his Rwandan counterpart.<\/p>\n
We asked P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 how it was possible that Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151\u2019s company, Verbau Kft., had regularly worked on projects subsidized by the state with HUF billions in recent years, and whether he was unaware of Benk\u0151\u2019s business dealings in Africa. The former foreign minister said he does not concern himself with what Benk\u0151 does in the business world; such matters are not discussed between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has never been, nor will there ever be, any connection between the business activities Szil\u00e1rd engages in and the political activities I engage in. I have been very careful to ensure that,\u201d said Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3.<\/p>\n
In response to our question about Verbau\u2019s project in Rwanda, he stated that the company had been contracted by the Rwandan government, completely independently of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
We also asked Verbau Kft. about its participation in state-funded projects. The company replied that it had participated in the projects as a subcontractor, and that it was only natural that a company with several decades of experience would have worked on projects that received state funding.<\/p>\n
Yet P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 began his political career as a defender of public funds and a relentless critic of conflicts of interest among politicians. In 2003, for example, he stood ankle-deep in Lake Balaton to protest the acquisition of a formerly state-owned villa by a company owned by Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny, who was serving as sports minister at the time.<\/p>\n
Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, as the young but fiercely combative face of Fidesz, harshly questioned then-Prime Minister P\u00e9ter Medgyessy, asking how long he would tolerate \u201cthe unbridled rampage of former KISZ cadres, business partners, and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than two decades later, he left his ministerial post after being forced to explain himself regarding the business dealings of one of his friends. We have been following Benk\u0151\u2019s activities for years, so we have managed to learn many details about his relationship with Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3.<\/p>\n
Benk\u0151 and Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 are the same age, and both began their political careers in Gy\u0151r. Benk\u0151 originally trained as an instrument maker, but soon turned to politics; he first served as the leader of Fidelitas in Gy\u0151r, then worked as a press secretary alongside Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3. Even after the change of government in 2010, he remained a prominent figure in Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3\u2019s team\u2014a man whom Viktor Orb\u00e1n clearly held in high regard and who was therefore rising through the ranks.<\/p>\n
When Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 2012, he appointed Benk\u0151 to a position of trust, entrusting him with the duties of chief of staff. Benk\u0151 remained in this position even after Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 became Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2014. Meanwhile, sports also brought them together; starting in 2011, they were teammates on the Dunakeszi Kinizsi futsal team. Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 wore jersey number 30, while Benk\u0151 wore number 31.<\/p>\n
In 2015, Benk\u0151 left public service; according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time, he did so in order to build a career in the private sector.<\/p>\n
Benk\u0151 first became involved as an owner in IT and food service companies, then entered the construction industry in 2018. It was then that he became an owner of a company called Eutek Kft. In 2020, the government provided this company with a large, non-repayable grant. The HUF 280 million (about EUR 800.000) grant came from the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), a background institution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade led by Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, as part of a program in which the state officially provided assistance to companies facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In exchange for the funding, Benk\u0151\u2019s company committed to preserving four jobs and making an investment of 560 million forints.<\/p>\n
Regarding this grant, P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 said in his April interview with Telex that he only learned about the grant to Benk\u0151\u2019s company after the grant had been awarded. He added that 1,200 other companies also received funding through the grant program.<\/p>\n
The construction industry has clearly been a good fit for Benk\u0151. In 2022, he acquired Verbau Kft., a long-established construction company based in Kecskem\u00e9t. Just a few months after the acquisition, in December 2022, the company announced that it had been selected as the general contractor to build the new Kecskem\u00e9t factory for Hilti, a multinational engineering company. The government contributed HUF 1.1 billion (EUR 3.1 million) to the project, which is valued at more than HUF 7 billion (EUR 20 million). The funding came from HIPA, an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 himself had previously announced it to the public.<\/p>\n
Verbau later worked on several projects that received billions in state funding and were personally close to P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3\u2019s heart. One such project was the BMW plant in Debrecen. Although not serving as the general contractor, Verbau participated in several tasks related to the plant. The company\u2019s social media posts revealed that they installed industrial flooring covering an area equivalent to five soccer fields at the plant on behalf of BMW, and that they also participated in a railway development project related to the plant.<\/p>\n
It is not known how much the company was paid for the work, but according to a construction industry source familiar with market prices who spoke to Direkt36 on condition of anonymity, the combined market price for the two sub-projects may have reached HUF 2.1 billion (EUR 6 million).<\/p>\n
Verbau also participated in another investment project in Debrecen, which P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 worked hard to bring to fruition. According to a previous statement by the foreign minister, negotiations lasted two and a half years to secure a deal for the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) to build its new battery factory in Debrecen, Hungary. Of the HUF 3,000 billion (EUR 8,5 billion) investment, the Hungarian government has committed HUF 88 billion (nearly EUR 252 million).<\/p>\n
Of this massive business deal, nearly HUF 7 billion (EUR 20 million) went to Verbau, owned by Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151. According to a document obtained by Direkt36, the company was contracted for this amount to carry out construction work related to the factory. The work was to be completed on a site that CATL leased from a company indirectly owned by the Hungarian state.<\/p>\n
There is a high-value, government-funded project in which the ties between the ministry formerly headed by Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 and the company owned by his best friend, Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151, are even closer.<\/p>\n
In May 2025, Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 announced, alongside Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, that the Hungarian government would provide support totaling HUF 20 billion (EUR 57 million) to modernize the water treatment plant in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.<\/p>\n
The Hungarian minister also said that three Hungarian companies are carrying out this investment. He did not reveal which companies they were, even though he must have been familiar with at least one of them. One of the three companies was Verbau\u2014Benk\u0151\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
Direkt36 has obtained one of the project\u2019s documents, which contains details about the general contractors. According to this document, Verbau, as a member of a consortium called H2O Rwanda Consortium, along with two other Hungarian companies\u2014LAOPROJEKT Zrt. and K\u0151r\u00f6s-Consult Zrt.\u2014signed a contract with a local company established by the Rwandan government to design and upgrade the Karenge water treatment plant.<\/p>\n
We also sent questions to the other two members of the consortium regarding the investment. LAOPROJEKT Zrt. replied that the consortium won the contract through a public procurement process conducted by a Rwandan state-owned company, and that the contract\u2019s current total value is approximately HUF 15 billion (nearly EUR 43 million). They did not respond to our questions regarding further details of the project, citing their confidentiality obligations. K\u0151r\u00f6s-Consult did not respond to our inquiry.<\/p>\n
At a joint press conference, it was also announced that the investment will be carried out under a special aid program agreed upon by the two countries in 2021. According to the relevant decree, under this program, Hungary may provide Rwanda with a discounted loan, subject to certain conditions, totaling USD 52 million (currently approximately HUF 16 billion). At least half of the projects financed by the loan must be implemented through the purchase of goods and services originating at least in part from Hungary. With this condition, the Hungarian government is primarily seeking to benefit domestic businesses under the aid program.<\/p>\n
The framework agreement also states that Hungary is offering a non-repayable grant for the water treatment plant development project in Kigali. The exact amount of this grant is not specified in the regulation.<\/p>\n
We have no precise information on what rewards Hungarian companies participating in the African water treatment project will receive for their work, nor do we know exactly how much the project will cost. However, in a social media post, P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 referred to the project as a \u201c$52 million investment,\u201d and on another occasion, he spoke of a HUF 20 billion (EUR 57 million) investment. From this, it can be concluded that the investment will use up the entire amount of the aid program, meaning it will be funded entirely from the billions provided by the Hungarian government through the program.<\/p>\n
The framework program also provides information regarding the selection of Hungarian companies. According to the program, the Rwandan government will select companies registered in Hungary for the project and then notify Hungary\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of its decision. This means that the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its minister, P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, must have been aware\u2014at the latest, after the selection process\u2014of which companies were participating in the Rwandan project. This includes the fact that the company owned by his best friend, Verbau Kft., was among them.<\/p>\n
Direkt36 also found another piece of evidence confirming Verbau\u2019s leading role in the African investment. It is a photo uploaded to social media by another company that is also involved in the project. The photo shows the project\u2019s information board at the site, displaying a number of important details. The header of the sign mentions the Government of Rwanda and one of its ministries, while further down is a description of the project: the development of the Karenge water treatment plant.<\/p>\n
The Government of Rwanda and the Hungarian state-owned EXIM Bank were identified as the project\u2019s financiers, while the H2O Rwanda Consortium was designated as the general contractor; the sign specifically lists Verbau Kft. alongside the other two companies within the consortium.<\/p>\n
The company information was provided by OPTEN Kft.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to a Direkt36 investigation, the company owned by P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3\u2019s best friend, Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151, was involved in an African investment project financed by a Hungarian loan and worked on numerous other projects related to foreign affairs. The former minister claims he had no idea about these deals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":13208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-telex.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[464,109,922,315,698],"ppma_author":[550],"aioseo_notices":[],"fimg_url":["https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/verbau_ruanda_szijjarto.jpg",2250,1500,false],"authors":[{"term_id":550,"user_id":27,"is_guest":0,"slug":"szoke-daniel","display_name":"D\u00e1niel Sz\u0151ke","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Szoke-Daniel.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Szoke-Daniel.png"},"author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Sz\u0151ke","first_name":"D\u00e1niel","job_title":"","description":"[:hu]Informatikus k\u00f6nyvt\u00e1ros szakon v\u00e9gzett az ELTE-n 2013-ban. K\u00fcls\u0151sk\u00e9nt t\u00f6bb \u00e9vig dolgozott a 444.hu-val, majd 2020-ban r\u00e9szt vett a Transparency International oknyomoz\u00f3 \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3i mentorprogramj\u00e1ban. 2021 janu\u00e1rj\u00e1t\u00f3l gyakornokk\u00e9nt, 2021 szeptember\u00e9t\u0151l pedig teljes \u00e1ll\u00e1sban a Direkt36 \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3ja.[:en]Graduated from E\u00f6tv\u00f6s Lor\u00e1nd University at 2013 as a librarian scientist. As a freelancer he worked with 444.hu news-site for several years, and in 2020 attended Transparency International\u2019s mentor program for investigative journalists. In January 2021 he started to work as an intern, and since September 2021 he is a full-time journalist of Direkt36.[:]"}],"tag_names":[{"name":"Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151","slug":"benko-szilard"},{"name":"Fidesz","slug":"fidesz"},{"name":"Ruanda","slug":"ruanda"},{"name":"P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3","slug":"szijjarto-peter"},{"name":"Verbau","slug":"verbau"}],"category_names":[{"name":"Advisors of the State","slug":"az-allam-tanacsadoi"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13213,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions\/13213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13203"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=13203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}