Following the Hungarian election, hyper-wealthy circles around outgoing prime minister Viktor Orbán are moving assets out of the country, to places such as Dubai, the US and Uruguay.
Ágoston Renczes
There are almost three billion euros in companies linked to Viktor Orbán’s circle that can be moved instantly. The export of assets abroad began even before the election, prompting a police inquiry.
Police in Hungary have opened an investigation into suspected misappropriation of funds after claims that oligarchs linked to Viktor Orbán’s system were moving allegedly stolen assets abroad, as reported by Hungarian media 444 on Tuesday (28 April).
The inquiry follows public pressure from opposition figures, including Péter Magyar and former Momentum politician András Fekete-Győr, who accused the authorities of failing to stop the so-called “asset flight”.
On Tuesday, Hungary’s police said in a press statement that the case was being investigated against unknown perpetrators and may involve misappropriation, causing particularly significant financial damage — an offence punishable by five to 10 years in prison.
Police said a separate preparatory procedure was also under way to assess possible further crimes, but declined to give details, arguing that disclosure could jeopardise the investigation.
One of Magyar’s most important promises, after won a resounding victory in the Hungarian elections on 12 April, was to recover assets illegally acquired by oligarchs close to Orbán.
This is to be handled by the National Office for Asset Recovery and Protection, the establishment of which will be one of the new government’s key tasks.
Magyar has so far not released any details about it.
Even before the elections, reports emerged that businesspeople belonging to Fidesz’s economic hinterland had begun trying to save their assets.
Started before election
In late March, the website 444 wrote that Ádám Matolcsy, son of former central bank governor György Matolcsy, was having his most valuable movable assets shipped in containers from Hungary to Dubai, including his collection of Porsche cars.
Ádám Matolcsy was one of the main actors in the scandal surrounding the Hungarian National Bank (MNB). Hundreds of billions of forints disappeared from the foundations set up by his father, into which MNB assets had been placed, through overpriced purchases and opaque investments.
Ádám Matolcsy had moved to Dubai earlier; reportedly, his father also lives there.
At the end of March, almost all the money (3.39 billion forints, or roughly €8.75m) was transferred from the account of V-Híd Vagyonkezelő Kft., the company managing the assets of oligarch Lőrinc Mészáros’s most profitable enterprise, to Mészáros’s private account. It later emerged that, at the time of the transfer, Mészáros was no longer a co-owner of V-Híd Vagyonkezelő. To this day, it is unclear on what basis this transfer was made.
Mészáros is a former gas-fitter and also served as mayor of Orbán’s home village of Felcsút. He is friends with Orbán and, after 2010 – that is, after Fidesz’s first victory with a constitutional majority – Mészáros gradually became a successful businessman thanks to state contracts. Today he is the richest Hungarian, and his wealth amounts to $5.2bn [€4.4bn], according to Forbes.
Since Fidesz’s electoral defeat, the export of wealthy oligarchs’ assets from Hungary abroad has clearly accelerated.
Private jets ‘are flying assets out of Vienna’
“Orbán’s oligarchs are transferring money worth tens of billions to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uruguay and other distant countries,” Magyar wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Guardian, citing Fidesz sources, reported that three members of Orbán’s inner circle had begun moving their assets to Middle Eastern countries.
According to the Guardian’s information, private jets loaded with wealth accumulated during Orbán’s 16 years in power have been taking off from Vienna non-stop. Others, meanwhile, are trying to invest their fortunes abroad as quickly as possible.
Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi wrote earlier that “key oligarchs and the front men of the system are frantically trying to get their assets out of Hungary before the new Tisza party government freezes, confiscates or nationalises them”.
According to Panyi’s sources, one well-known pro-government businessman has transferred or invested hundreds of billions of forints in Saudi Arabia.
Other target countries include the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states and, for the older generation, Hong Kong and Singapore. One of the companies embroiled in one of the largest corruption cases is even considering relocating to Australia.
Trillion forints in Orbán-linked companies
According to information from the weekly Magyar Hang, a few days after the elections, 4.4 billion forints (more than €12m) were transferred from one of Lőrinc Mészáros’s smaller companies, Envirotis Holding Zrt, to the Status Next environmental private equity fund, which also belongs to Mészáros.
According to a Monday article on the economic website G7, this was the payment of an annual dividend in line with legal regulations. However, for this amount to be paid out as a dividend, Envirotis had to convert large volumes of various assets into cash. As of 31 December 2025, the company’s account held only 2.1 billion forints (about €5.8m); the rest of its assets were in less-easily transferable forms, mainly securities, some of which were apparently converted into cash in order to pay the dividend.
