A former minister faces a bribery investigation as Hungary’s new government investigates alleged corruption during former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s rule. Posted on November 14, 2026 November 14, 2026 Hungarian investigators have found $19.5 million in hidden cash, including packages dug up in forests, during a corruption investigation involving a former minister of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, a new agency created to investigate suspicions of misappropriation of public money, said in a statement late Friday that the searches took place on Nov. 12 and 13 in Budapest and three other parts of Hungary. Their investigators found Hungarian forints, euros and US dollars in farm buildings, warehouses, a house and “a high-value safe in a secluded location,” as well as underground in forests. The agency released footage showing agents digging outdoors after dark and sifting through piles of cash, which were then deposited into the state treasury. Finance Minister Andras Karman said on Facebook on Friday that 12 treasury employees spent eight hours counting it. The discovery comes amid an investigation into Miklos Sesztak, Hungary’s development minister from 2014 to 2018, suspected of receiving more than $37.2 million in bribes and kickbacks related to overpriced second-hand bus purchases by a state transportation company and government construction projects. He was arrested in September and denies any wrongdoing. Prime Minister Peter Magyar, whose center-right pro-European Tisza party ended Orban’s 16 years in power in April, said on Facebook on Friday that the recovery marked the end of what he called the “Fidesz-KDNP mafia.” Orban has previously accused the new government of using the investigations to force him out of politics. Other former ministers have been arrested in separate cases, as has Gyorgy Matolcsy, former governor of Hungary’s central bank, which sets monetary policy. His case concerns the alleged misuse of public assets held by a central bank foundation. Matolcsy has denied any wrongdoing. A survey published this week by Hungarian news website HVG by pollster Median suggested that 70 percent of respondents considered it very important to investigate alleged corruption under Orban and hold those responsible accountable.
