Orban Denies Ordering Ukrainian Gold Convoy Seizure

Budapest Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has denied directing authorities to seize two Ukrainian cash-in-transit vehicles carrying $82 million in cash and gold, saying Hungarian officials acted independently during the March incident. Seven Ukrainian nationals transporting the assets were briefly detained by Hungarian authorities on suspicion of money laundering. The seizure heightened tensions between Budapest and Kyiv ahead of Hungary’s April election, which ended Orban’s 16-year tenure as prime minister. Ukraine’s state-owned Oschadbank said its employees had been transporting the money and gold from Austria to Ukraine as part of a routine operation. The bank said similar transfers had been conducted weekly since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Hungarian prosecutors subsequently opened an investigation into the handling of the case, including allegations of unlawful detention and mistreatment of the Ukrainian nationals. In June, prosecutors named Janos Hajdu, a former head of Hungary’s counter-terrorism forces and current security chief for Orban’s Fidesz party, as a suspect. Orban has not been questioned in the investigation. However, politicians from the governing Tisza party have challenged him to clarify whether he ordered the operation. Speaking to Hungarian television channel Hir TV, Orban described the transit of Ukrainian cash and gold as “Europe’s biggest corruption case”. He denied personally directing the seizure but indicated that he would have ordered action if authorities had not acted independently.