A luxury apartment in Spain and a Croatian seaside home – uncovering the hidden assets of the key figure in the ministerial corruption case
The prosecutor’s office reached an agreement with only one defendant, Anita H in the corruption case spanning multiple ministries. The grant writer was convicted on the first day of the trial and received a reduced sentence in accordance with the plea bargain. Anita H. declared minimal assets in court. However, 24.hu identified several high-value – partly foreign – properties that the defendant had concealed from the court.
24.hu
195 napja
Viktor Orbán’s exorbitant loans to high-risk countries
The Hungarian government is spending an increasing amount of money on boosting its foreign political influence, allocating billions of euros for lending to high-risk-rated Balkan and African countries – such as Chad and the Republic of Maldives – and providing loans to a privileged circle of companies, the so-called national champions, to support their expansion. The interest rate on the loan granted to North Macedonia is barely more than half of what the state-owned Eximbank secures its funds for, meaning that the consolidation of the Balkan country – governed once by the party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who fled to Hungary in 2018 – is partly borne by Hungarian taxpayers.
24.hu
198 napja
Documents reveal Tamás Menczer’s responsibility in verifying the compliance of Chinese ventilators procured during the COVID-pandemic
We found Tamás Menczer's name on the contracts for ventilator procurements from the time of the coronavirus pandemic — according to the documents, he was entrusted with a significant responsibility.
24.hu
200 napja
Government to transfer railway station properties into private hands until 2124 – this is the model of plundering privatisation, says Dávid Vitézy
The government, citing national economic interest of special importance, plans to lease the properties of major Budapest railway stations to private entities for 99 years. According to MÁV (Hungarian State Railways), further consultations are expected to finalise the concepts. While the Municipality of Budapest is studying the development plans, Dávid Vitézy is ringing the alarm.
24.hu
202 napja
Despite generating enormous profits, the crown jewel of István Tiborcz’s empire has not paid a single forint in taxes on its earnings
A legislative amendment created a tax haven-like situation for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law, allowing the BDPST-empire to avoid taxation on its profits.
24.hu
242 napja
“Someone not wanting to be a soldier doesn’t mean they can’t be one” – for the past four and a half years, it has been almost impossible leave the Hungarian military
Gábor, a first lieutenant, has been trying to leave the armed forces for nearly a year, to no avail, even though he failed the mandatory annual physical fitness test and has a psychiatric evaluation stating that he is unfit to be a soldier.
24.hu
250 napja
Can Slovakia’s language law amendment disrupt the alliance of Orbán and Fico?
According to the editor-in-chief of Slovakia's largest newspaper, the key question now is whether the Hungarian prime minister will prioritise the issue of Slovakia’s Hungarian minority or his alliance with the Slovak prime minister.
24.hu
255 napja
“I don’t want my children to grow up in Putin’s country. And I don’t want to have to carry them to bunkers.”
A child forced to watch his father’s execution before being shot in the head, thousands of drivers missing from public transport, an insane technological arms race on the front, integration difficulties for returning veterans, nerve-wracking night-time bombings – these are all stories from Ukraine, where I had the chance to meet with government officials, civil leaders, and journalists.
24.hu
257 napja
The reasons behind the mass disappearance of traditional Hungarian pubs: not just a severe crisis, but a systemic transformation
In fifteen years, the number of traditional Hungarian pubs (“kocsma”) has halved. This is much more than a sectorial decline: this is devastation.
24.hu
264 napja
“I didn’t receive an actual raise, only the possibility of one” – law enforcement employees feel their earnings are humiliatingly low
It's not just court and prosecutorial employees, but also law enforcement administrative staff who have been left out of recent years’ salary raises.
24.hu
268 napja
A broken railway switch and halted railway developments – Vitézy thinks it is clear who is responsible for the collapse of Hungary’s railways
According to Dávid Vitézy, János Lázár has halted all railway investments in Budapest, including those aimed at revitalising the surroundings of Keleti and Nyugati railway stations.
24.hu
286 napja
EU launches proceedings: Orbán’s government can no longer hide how much the private equity funds of NER billionaires have received
Private equity funds have become the primary tool for wealth concealment and siphoning off public funds in Hungary, while neither the operation of these funds nor state capital investments are transparent — as revealed in a recent study by Transparency International (TI) Hungary. Hungary's anti-money laundering regulations violate EU law, as they do not include provisions for recording the actual owners of private equity funds. Consequentially, the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Hungary in July 2024.
24.hu
292 napja
Amount of special taxes triples over three years
No matter how much the government is trying to emphasise that special taxes will be prevented from being passed on to the general public, profit-oriented companies keep finding ways to make us pay for what the government has mandated for them.
24.hu
304 napja
Public servants in government offices earn starvation wages while top government officials enjoy soaring salaries
Top government personnel have been consistently receiving generous salary increases over the past five years, while government and public officials at the lower end of the hierarchy have only had their salaries raised once.
24.hu
318 napja
“It burns, it fries, it dries out” – agricultural university rector estimates weekly corn damages due to heat and drought at hundreds of billions each week
Corn crops will suffer greatly if the heat persists for another couple weeks – agricultural economist György Raskó told our newspaper. Last Wednesday
24.hu
340 napja
Budapest Airport: a „matter of sovereignty” worth HUF 1400 billion to Orbán’s government
The Gyurcsány government leased the airport for 75 years and collected 464.5 billion forints. The Orbán government is offering 1,400 billion forints to buy out the foreign operators 56 years before the contract expires. According to this, "sovereignty" is worth three times more than the "failed privatization."
24.hu
376 napja