Orban's inner circle faces prosecution over billions in missing EU funds — Politico

The publication noted that these claims emerged as Hungary's new Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, attempts to convince Brussels that the country is ready to receive over 10 billion euros in EU funds, earlier frozen due to rule-of-law concerns.

Ferenc Pal Biro, President of Hungary’s Integrity Authority [an autonomous public administration body established to prevent, detect, and correct fraud, conflicts of interest, and corruption in the management of European Union funds, established in 2022 - ed.], stated that "high-ranking politicians could very well be held accountable" for their involvement in an alleged scheme to systematically defraud European taxpayers during Orban's rule.

He announced that his team "has uncovered a number of criminal cases where we, as a country, should be able to recover these funds and repatriate them, as most of them have already left the country."

However, he has not pressed specific charges against Orban or members of his immediate inner circle.

The investigation showed that three companies received the vast majority of state contracts for goods and services, while the amounts charged under these contracts were artificially inflated. Biro stated that the government spent approximately 10 billion euros on these three firms over the past four years.

In late April, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said that oligarchs close to Orban were transferring large sums abroad in case they needed to flee, and he called for their arrest.

Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi earlier confirmed that Orban is preparing a potential safe haven in the U.S. should he face justice in Hungary.