{"id":11464,"date":"2026-07-22T15:49:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T12:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=11464"},"modified":"2026-07-22T15:49:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T12:49:48","slug":"hungarian-prosecutors-raid-orban-party-servers-in-surprise-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/hungarian-prosecutors-raid-orban-party-servers-in-surprise-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungarian prosecutors raid Orb\u00e1n party servers in surprise move"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Brussels Signal<\/em>, the chief prosecutor’s office of B\u00e1cs-Kiskun county in southern Hungary confirmed the July 21 operation was part of a criminal investigation into grants distributed through the National Cultural Fund. Prosecution spokeswoman Marianna Bod\u00f3<\/strong> stated the case involves suspected embezzlement and other offences but declined to provide additional details.<\/p>\n

The raid targeted a Telekom data centre in Budapest, where investigators appeared without warning and moved to seize the party’s entire communications infrastructure and databases. Bertalan Havasi<\/strong>, Fidesz communications director, emphasized there had been no precedent for such action in Hungary since the end of communist rule in 1990.<\/p>\n

J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r<\/strong>, a Fidesz MP who served as building and transport minister under Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>, condemned the operation as a politically motivated vendetta rather than legitimate accountability. He characterized the prosecution service’s interest in the personal data of Fidesz voters as extremely dangerous and incompatible with democratic political culture.<\/p>\n

The fidesz.hu website and party email addresses remained unavailable for much of the day following the seizure, as Brussels Signal reports.<\/p>\n

Investigation Targets Cultural Fund Grants<\/h2>\n

The probe centers on a temporary panel within the National Cultural Fund that prosecutors allege approved 1,079 grants worth more than 17 billion forints (\u20ac47 million) in violation of established rules from late 2024 onward. A significant portion of the funds reportedly flowed to performers, companies and associations with ties to Fidesz, several of which participated in the party’s election campaign.<\/p>\n

Six individuals were detained in June, including former Fidesz MP Attila Ughy<\/strong>, who chaired the body responsible for distributing the money, and Bal\u00e1zs B\u00fas<\/strong>, a former vice-president of the fund. The court in Kecskem\u00e9t remanded all six in custody for 30 days. All have denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Magyar Government Tightens Grip on Power<\/h2>\n

Prime Minister P\u00e9ter Magyar<\/strong> stated he learned of the raid from Fidesz itself and was awaiting an official statement from prosecutors. Since taking office in May with a two-thirds majority, his Tisza party has moved aggressively to consolidate power, amending the constitution to end the term of President Tam\u00e1s Sulyok<\/strong> and introducing retroactive eligibility rules that bar Orb\u00e1n from returning to office.<\/p>\n

Fidesz MEPs have accused the Hungarian Government of prioritizing political vendetta over governance, though the European Parliament declined to debate the charge this month.<\/p>\n

A regional criminal directorate of the National Tax and Customs Administration participated in the search operation alongside prosecutors.<\/p>\n

With information from Brussels Signal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hungarian prosecutors raided a Budapest data centre housing opposition Fidesz party servers, seizing communications infrastructure in a probe of cultural fund grants critics call political persecution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":11463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[4610,4424,3528,886,9841,7160,218],"nfg_topic":[134],"class_list":["post-11464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-budapest","tag-embezzlement","tag-fidesz","tag-hungary","tag-national-cultural-fund","tag-political-persecution","tag-viktor-orban","nfg_topic-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11471,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464\/revisions\/11471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11464"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=11464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}