How Hungary sidesteps Europe’s fraud watchdog

{"text":[[{"start":9.762,"text":"Hungary recovered and handed over less than a fifth of the funds flagged by Brussels for potential fraud between 2015 and 2024, according to data from EU anti-corruption watchdog Olaf."}],[{"start":23.36,"text":"Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is fighting for his political future, trailing in the polls ahead of next month’s election while the opposition hammers him with graft allegations."}],[{"start":34.29,"text":"The issue has been costly for Hungary: the EU froze €27bn earmarked for the country in 2022 after finding political connections were often “decisive” in winning state contracts. About €18bn remains frozen, according to the European Commission."}],[{"start":54.153,"text":"Hungary has returned only €250.6mn — just 18 per cent — of the €1.39bn in EU funds that Olaf said should be paid back into the EU budget because of allegedly fraudulent processes, according to data shared with the FT by Olaf."}],[{"start":72.8,"text":"By contrast, the rest of the EU clawed back 71 per cent of the funds flagged by Olaf: €5.15bn out of €7.22bn."}],[{"start":81.297,"text":"Hungary ultimately accounted for 16 per cent of the total EU funds that Olaf said were potentially affected by fraud between 2015 and 2024 — a seemingly disproportionate figure, as it received a yearly average of about 2.9 per cent of total EU spending over that period."}],[{"start":100.473,"text":"The gap can be explained in part by a loophole: Olaf investigates fraud involving EU funds, but only authorities in the member states or the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) can prosecute the alleged fraudsters and retrieve the funds. However, Hungary has not signed up to the EPPO, leaving just the national prosecutors in charge."}],[{"start":124.787,"text":"“This is very concerning . . . there are a lot of recurrent problems that are identified but are not being picked up,” said Tineke Strik, a Green lawmaker in the European parliament who led a report on the rule of law in Hungary. “This is a concrete indication that there is no willingness to follow it up.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":140.748,"text":"Orbán and his associates have denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and he has cast the suspension of EU funds as a political attempt to unseat him. The government did not respond to a request for comment."}],[{"start":153.88,"text":"A recent FT investigation found that companies owned by 13 men close to Orbán’s administration won 14 per cent of all state tenders and €12bn in EU-funded contracts between Orbán’s election in 2010 and late 2025. That included €700mn awarded even after the EU started freezing funds. The companies had won just €379mn of EU funds the five years before Orbán took power."}],[{"start":187.003,"text":"Olaf launched 87 investigations targeting Hungary between 2015 and 2024, and recommended judicial proceedings in 52 cases. For the rest of the EU, it started 2,144 investigations, recommending judicial proceedings in 509 cases."}],[{"start":208.96,"text":"One key concern highlighted by investigators is customs fraud. Olaf told Hungarian customs to recover €285mn in evaded duties between 2015 and 2024, but only about €633,000 was actually seized."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":225.572,"text":"Investigators have also raised concerns about the Hungarian authorities failing to prosecute suspects based on Olaf’s judicial recommendations. The anti-fraud agency called for judicial action in 52 cases, but Hungarian authorities issued indictments in just 17 of them."}],[{"start":243.685,"text":"In one well-known case, Hungarian authorities did not follow Olaf’s recommendation to prosecute a case involving Orbán’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz. The body had concluded in 2017 that Tiborcz’s company, Elios Innovatív, won tenders to install municipal lighting in fraudulent processes designed to cut out any competition, and ordered €43.7mn to be paid back."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":270.226,"text":"While Olaf found evidence of criminal conduct and recommended opening proceedings, Hungarian authorities ultimately dismissed the case."}],[{"start":279.914,"text":"Tiborcz told the FT last year that Olaf’s recommendation was politically motivated. “It was a contentious issue . . . Hungarian prosecutors twice established no wrongdoing,” Tiborcz said."}],[{"start":295.96,"text":"Tiborcz, 39, has become one of Hungary’s richest people, according to local media, but denies his rise is because of his relationship with Orbán and told the FT he had stayed away from procurement since the Elios case."}],[{"start":307.8,"text":"Last year, Orbán said he considered criticism of his associates a natural part of politics. “I am untouchable, since I do not deal with business matters and never have,” he told online portal öt.hu. “They attack . . . my son-in-law. This is inevitable. I regard it as a necessary consequence of democracy and the existence of an opposition.”"}],[{"start":333.48,"text":"Olaf officials have said relations with the Hungarian prosecutor’s office have improved since signing a joint working arrangement in 2022. Last year, long-serving prosecutor-general Péter Polt moved on to become president of Hungary’s constitutional court."}],[{"start":352.36,"text":"The anti-fraud body cautioned that figures provided to the FT were preliminary and “could increase in the future”."}],[{"start":364.16,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1774878654_3167.mp3"}