Peter Magyar vows to recover assets stolen from the state during the Orbán era

The government led by Peter Magyar and the Tisza Party aims to return to the state the assets and money allegedly appropriated illegally during Viktor Orbán’s rule. For the new Hungarian cabinet, fulfilling this promise is essential to preserving citizens’ trust.

The term “asset recovery” may sound like a bureaucratic concept, but in Hungary it represents one of the key pledges of the new government’s campaign. The aim is to return to the state the assets unfairly distributed during the Orbán years, while those who benefited from them, whether oligarchs, people close to the party, intermediaries or members of the autocrat’s family, would also face legal responsibility.

The plan is presented as a broad battle against corruption. For most Hungarians, one of the new government’s most important tasks is to return the stolen billions to the public coffers. Social media has also seen calls for beneficiaries of the Orbán system to end up behind bars and for people to “hear the sound of handcuffs being put on.”

Experts estimate that the political fate of Magyar and the Tisza Party will depend to a large extent on the success of this process. The sums involved are extraordinarily large. During the campaign, Magyar mentioned around 60 billion euros, while public discussions now cite figures of up to three times that amount.

A strong demand for justice

In the public perception, the wealth accumulated under the Orbán system is associated with images of a luxurious lifestyle. Relatives of the former prime minister, political associates and oligarchs close to him live in luxury residences, travel by private jet, vacation on yachts and regularly receive public tenders worth billions.

However, the phenomenon is not limited to this elite. For years, a large number of Fidesz officials and people connected to this circle were financially supported with public wealth. Entrepreneurs, artists, academics and journalists close to Orbán benefited in the same way, while the main criterion for proximity to power was loyalty.

This reality stands in contrast to widespread economic and social hardship. Many Hungarians have become poorer, while a large number of young people have left the country. Public infrastructure has been neglected or has completely deteriorated in some cases, while schools and hospitals operate under difficult conditions. The budget deficit has reached 7.5 percent of GDP, making the demand for punishment and justice even stronger.

An authority with broad powers

Around four months after Magyar’s government came to power, the anti-corruption initiative has moved from promises to concrete action. At the end of July, the National Asset Recovery and Protection Authority (NVVH) was established by law and will be fully set up and organized in the coming weeks. The institution is expected to be a “super-institution,” with very broad powers and the highest level of independence.

Since the change of system in 1989/90, Hungary has not had an authority of this kind, although the need for one has existed. The privatization of state and public assets inherited from the communist dictatorship was accompanied to a great extent by fraud, as in most of the former Eastern bloc. Legal consequences were rare. When Viktor Orbán came to power in 2010, there was a limited attempt to investigate the well-known corruption of the socialist-liberal government previously led by Ferenc Gyurcsány, but it produced no results.

The appointment sparks debate

The NVVH will retrospectively investigate the destination of public money and the way assets were used, including real estate. Although no cut-off date has been set, the focus will mainly be on the period of the Orbán system and cases dating from 2010 onward. The authority will also have a preventive function, ensuring that public assets and funds are used lawfully in the future.

The new body will have police and prosecutorial powers, enabling it to conduct investigations and bring charges. The NVVH will report solely to parliament on its activities.

As with other developments following the Magyar government’s rise to power, the establishment of this institution was accompanied by debate over its composition. At the end of last week, parliament elected 46-year-old political scientist Anna Unger to head the authority. She is affiliated with Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and specializes in political systems, democratic institutions and party financing. Her appointment followed a multi-stage procedure involving around one hundred male and female candidates.

A previously unknown leader

Unger was virtually unknown to the general public, so her selection surprised many observers. Although her academic work has dealt with political corruption, she is not known as an established specialist in the field and is not a lawyer. It had been expected that the authority would be led by a well-known lawyer or an anti-corruption expert, such as Miklos Ligeti, head of the legal department at Transparency International Hungary.

Ligeti had submitted what was considered a competitive candidacy and is now mentioned as a possible deputy leader. In total, Anna Unger will have four deputies with different responsibilities. Prosecutor Katalin Tasnády, who previously worked at the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office, has already been appointed to head the investigations sector.

Government representatives defended the choice, arguing that Unger had presented a broad political vision for the authority’s mission. During her parliamentary hearing, she said that corruption in Orbán’s Hungary was not merely traditional corruption, but a system that, in her view, had taken on feudal characteristics. She stressed that, alongside compensation and the return of assets, the way they were appropriated must be thoroughly uncovered so that such a situation does not happen again.

When can court decisions be expected?

The fiercest debate was sparked by a statement from Anna Unger. She said it would be “stupid” to believe that final court rulings on major corruption cases would be handed down during the authority’s first six-year term. Video blogger and commentator Pobert Puzsér described this position as “devastating” on Facebook.

According to Puzsér, the prime minister had received from voters “an unprecedented mandate to hold the country’s thieves accountable.” He warned that waiting six years for such results would amount to the failure of the Tisza Party government.

Peter Magyar responded in harsh tones to criticism that a lawyer had not been appointed to head the NVVH. “There was never any promise that the people would vote, as in a casting show, on who should lead the NVVH,” he wrote on Facebook. According to the prime minister, experts had assessed Unger as suitable for the task.

Political scientist Gábor Török said in a podcast for the 24.hu portal that the way the authority was created shows that it will be both a “historic institution” and a “powerful political institution.” Its task will be to review the past, while the Tisza Party is expected to carry out a “complete settling of accounts” with the previous system.

According to Török, the government will be able to retain the support it has received only if it does not create the impression that “those responsible for the previous order” are escaping accountability. /DW