Orban personally ordered the detention of Oschadbank's cash-in-transit vehicles - investigation

Author, News Department

Place of work, BBC Ukrainian Service

Published 19 minutes ago

Reading time: 4 min

This is a translation of material published on the website of the BBC Ukrainian Service. The original can be read here

The seizure of collection vehicles and funds of the Ukrainian Oschadbank on March 5 in the vicinity of Budapest was personally ordered by the then Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, according to an investigation by Hungarian journalists. He did this allegedly in response to Ukraine’s “blocking” of the Druzhba oil pipeline, damaged by Russian strikes.

Journalists cite government sources familiar with or related to the case. The details of these conversations were published in its publication on June 3 by Telex.

The current Prime Minister of Hungary, Peter Magyar, has already commented on the investigation on his Facebook.

He said that Orban directed the work of law enforcement agencies and intelligence services manually and must be held accountable for this.

Journalists of the publication also turned to Viktor Orban himself for comment. They asked him why and on what basis the government had asked the relevant authorities to seize the cash-in-transit vehicles.

“If you have any questions, please contact the competent authorities!” — the press secretary of the former prime minister, Bertalan Havasi, wrote in response to them.

On March 5, Hungary detained two cash-in-transit vehicles of Oschadbank. Seven bank employees were released that evening. The seized cars contained 40 million US dollars, 35 million euros and 9 kg of gold.

The Hungarian side returned the money and valuables to Ukraine only on May 6 after Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party lost the elections.

What does the investigation say?

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According to Telex sources, the raid was purely politically motivated and was initiated personally by Orban.

“The government, namely Viktor Orban, decided that it was necessary to conduct a raid on the Ukrainian “golden convoy” on March 5, although from a professional point of view there was no reason for this,” the publication says.

Several sources told reporters that instructions were received from the Hungarian government in early March regarding a date for the raid. This information was confirmed by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Hungary.

In recent weeks, Telex journalists have been able to speak with several sources who were directly or indirectly involved in the case or had a clear understanding of the background that led to the operation.

Although these interlocutors downplayed their own responsibility and regularly pointed at each other during conversations, the publication writes that their stories agreed on one thing - the authorities initiated a raid on the Ukrainian bank convoy, and there was a political calculation behind this operation.

“In early March, an order was received from the State Secretariat for Supervision of Civil National Security Services under the Prime Minister’s Office, according to which a raid on cars carrying money was to take place on March 5,” the department said in a commentary to Telex.

Journalists also found out that the Secretariat of State was following the instructions of Orbán, who was constantly informed about developments on the day of the attack on the convoy.

According to Telex sources, the then leader of Hungary decided to take this step in response to Ukraine’s “blocking” of the Druzhba oil pipeline, damaged by Russian strikes.

In addition, the government wanted to use this story to shift attention to another topic - that the money that the Ukrainians were transporting was of dubious origin, and that opposition forces were being financed from it.

The Fidesz party's media empire fueled the scandal with AI-generated images, presenting Ukrainian cash collectors as detained criminals.

Orbán was convinced that the Ukrainians were not allowing the transit of Russian oil to Hungary for political reasons, and not because they could not repair the damaged pipeline.

As journalists note, the words of the sources are indirectly confirmed by the statement of Orban himself, who on March 5, at the opening of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, announced that his government would force Ukraine and the EU to resume oil transportation through the Friendship pipeline.

“We will win, and we will win by force, there will be no compromises, we will break the oil blockade. We will force the Ukrainians to resume oil transportation by force. They must unconditionally and soon open the Druzhba oil pipeline,” said Viktor Orban.

According to the publication, from the beginning of the Russian invasion until the seizure of cash-in-transit vehicles, the Ukrainian side transported huge amounts of cash through Hungarian territory, which annually reached several billion dollars. This logistics task was coordinated and carried out for many years by a company owned by István Garancsy, a close friend of Viktor Orbán.

Some of Telex’s interlocutors noted that the reason for the raid on the car was allegedly the participation of a former Ukrainian intelligence officer in the transportation. Also considered suspicious was the fact that Ukrainians rarely used the official police escort for which they had an agreement, and also transported such significant amounts of money without security.

However, journalists note that all these signs can serve as a basis for further investigation, but in themselves they do not contradict the law and are not even a violation. In addition, the Hungarian government learned some of this information after the raid.