Hungary goes after billions from Orban's system

"Property restitution" - behind this, and in Hungarian quite bureaucratic, expression lies one of the most important election promises of the new government in Hungary. Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his ruling Tisza party want to return to the state the money and property that during Viktor Orbán's rule in dubious ways ended up in the hands of oligarchs, party cronies, people who served as fronts or members of the autocrat's family. At the same time, they want to hold those who benefited illegally from it legally accountable.

This is a comprehensive anti-corruption operation. This is what many Hungarians expect from the new government more than anything else: that the billions that they believe were stolen from them be returned to the citizens. Many also want to “hear them handcuffing” the users of Orbán’s system and see them behind bars, as can be read on social media.

The success or failure of the "return of assets" will have a decisive impact on the political future of the Hungarian Prime Minister and his party, many observers believe. No wonder, because we are talking about huge sums of money that were allegedly illegally diverted during Orban's time. During the election campaign, the Hungarian spoke of an amount of around 60 billion euros. In the meantime, estimates that are even three times higher are being mentioned.

Thirst for punishment and justice

In the public mind, these sums are associated with images of the decadent luxury of Orban's system: the former prime minister's family, his party friends, and oligarchs live in luxury villas, fly on private jets, vacation on luxury yachts, and win public tenders worth billions.

But, of course, it is much more than that. An entire caste of party cadres from Orbán's Fidesz and its entourage, as well as entrepreneurs, artists, academics and journalists close to Orbán, have been generously supported from public funds for years – while their main qualification was, above all, loyalty to Orbán.

In contrast, there is the impoverishment of many Hungarians, the exodus of young people from the country, a neglected and partially completely collapsed public infrastructure, difficult conditions in schools and hospitals, and a huge budget deficit that currently amounts to 7,5 percent of GDP. In light of this disparity, there is a great desire for punishment and justice in Hungary.

Unusually large powers

Less than four months after the government of Peter Magyars took office, the anti-corruption operation has now begun and is practically underway. After the National Administration for the Recovery and Protection of Assets (NAPA) was established by law at the end of July, its formation will continue in the coming weeks.

One thing is already clear: it will be a "super institution" with extremely broad powers and maximum independence.

An agency like the NVVH has not existed in Hungary since the change of regime in 1989/90 – even though the country needed one. The privatization of public and state property from the time of the communist dictatorship in Hungary, as in almost the entire former Eastern Bloc, was largely carried out through fraud. The consequences were serious in only a few cases.

When Viktor Orbán came to power in 2010, there was a tepid attempt to shed light on the chronic corruption of the previous socialist-liberal government of Ferenc Gyurcsany. That attempt, however, ended without results.

Controversy over agency staff

This time it should be different. On the one hand, the NVVH will retroactively investigate where public money went and how assets, such as real estate, were used. Although no precise date has been set for the cases to be investigated, it will mainly concern cases from the period of the Orbán system, i.e. from 2010.

On the other hand, the agency will also deal with preventive property protection and monitor whether public money and property are used legally in the future.

The NVVH has both police and prosecutorial powers, meaning it can conduct investigations and bring charges. It is accountable only to parliament for its work.

As in several other cases since the government of Peter Magyar came to power, the establishment of the NVVH was accompanied by a controversy over personnel.

Late last week, parliament appointed 46-year-old political scientist Anna Unger from Budapest's Eötvös Loránd University as the head of the new institution. She is an expert on political systems, democratic institutions and party financing, and was selected in a multi-stage process from almost a hundred candidates.

Until now almost unknown to the public

Unger has been virtually unknown to the general public, which is why many observers were surprised by her choice. Although she has also dealt with political corruption in her academic work, she is not a specialist in that field, and she is not a lawyer.

Many expected that prominent lawyers and anti-corruption experts, such as Miklós Ligeti, director of Transparency International Hungary, would be given the position.

Ligeti, who was also considered a serious candidate, is now mentioned as one of the deputies. Unger will have a total of four deputies with different powers.

The prominent prosecutor Katalin Tašnađi, who previously worked at the Central Prosecutor's Office for Investigations, has already been appointed as the deputy in charge of investigations.

Government representatives explained Unger's choice by saying that she presented a comprehensive political vision for the institution's work in her application.

She herself said during a parliamentary hearing that in Hungary under Orban, there was something much bigger than classic corruption. According to her, a kind of feudal system prevailed.

In addition to compensation and property restitution, Unger believes, it is necessary to thoroughly expose the system of property appropriation to prevent such circumstances from ever happening again.

How long will it take for the verdict?

The biggest controversy erupted over a statement by Unger, who said that it would be "crazy" to believe that final verdicts in major corruption cases would be rendered during the institution's first six-year term.

Well-known video blogger and publicist Robert Pužer described her statement on Facebook as "devastating."

The prime minister, he said, was given “unprecedented authority to hold the plunderers of the country accountable” in the elections. If Hungarians now have to wait six years, it would lead to the downfall of the Tisza government, Pužer believes.

The Hungarian Prime Minister reacted quite angrily to widespread criticism that the head of the NVVH is not a lawyer.

"There was never a promise that the people, like in a casting show, would vote on who would lead the NVVH," he wrote on Facebook. Experts, he said, had assessed that Unger was suitable for the position.

Political scientist Gabor Terek assessed in a podcast on the 24.hu portal that the process of forming the institution shows that the NVVH will be partly a "historical institution" and partly a "strong political institution" whose task will be to confront the past.

The public's expectation from the Tisa party is a "thorough showdown" with the old system. The government can only preserve the trust placed in it if it does not create the impression that "those guilty of the previous order" will escape responsibility.