Hungary’s parliament lifts the immunity of Orban’s sitting leader and two former ministers, clearing the way for criminal investigations. Posted on September 29, 2026 September 29, 2026 Hungary’s parliament has stripped Prime Minister Peter Magyar and two ministers of former leader Viktor Orban’s nationalist government of their immunity, clearing the way for prosecutors to carry out separate criminal investigations into each of them. Monday’s vote came after Magyar, who is being investigated for theft, specifically asked for his immunity to be lifted so he can be cleared of the “defamation” charge. The investigations against Orban-era ministers, suspected of embezzlement and bribery, are the first corruption investigations against senior government figures during Orban’s 16 years in power. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to lift his immunity. Orban’s Fidesz party and its ally KDNP boycotted the session. as well as former Minister of Culture Balazs Hanko and former Minister of National Development Miklos Sesztak. Magyar is being investigated over an incident at a Budapest nightclub in June 2024, when prosecutors allege he took a mobile phone from a man who was filming him and threw it into the Danube River. Magyar called the case a “farce” and last week accused prosecutors of trying to “combine” the former ministers’ cases “with the attempted defamation of political character… which has already failed several times.” Corruption cases Hanko, a lawmaker from Orban’s Fidesz party, is accused of embezzling more than 40 million euros ($46 million) in public funds. Prosecutors allege the money was used to help finance the 2026 parliamentary election campaign and for the personal benefit of others. Sesztak, a KDNP lawmaker, is under investigation for allegedly accepting more than $37.2 million in bribes and kickbacks related to the procurement of vehicles by Hungary’s state bus company, as well as state construction projects. Both ministers deny wrongdoing. The cases come less than six months after Magyar’s Tisza party ended Orban’s 16 years in power with a landslide election victory. Magyar campaigned on promises to tackle corruption, restore rule of law safeguards and rebuild Hungary’s strained relationship with the European Union. His government has since made the fight against alleged corruption and overpriced public procurement a central part of its program, including plans for a new asset recovery office focused on irregularities linked to the Orban era.
