Hungarian PM waives immunity as former ministers face billions-forint corruption probes

In a sweeping anti-corruption operation dubbed “Operation Purgatory,” Hungary’s new administration moved to hold former officials accountable. Prime Minister Péter Magyar voluntarily surrendered his parliamentary immunity after a deputy prosecutor alleged he threw a phone into the Danube, an act classified as theft. Parliament also stripped immunity from two ex-ministers: Miklós Seszták of the Christian Democratic People’s Party, suspected of receiving about 12.6 billion forints in bribes through an intermediary between 2015 and 2018, and Balázs Hankó of Fidesz, accused of causing a 17 billion-forint loss by misusing the National Cultural Fund on over a thousand occasions.

Both men were escorted to the Central Investigating Chief Prosecutor’s Office, placed in custody, and later remanded by a court. The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office has taken over four related cases, including a visa scheme linked to Orbán’s brother, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office may assist in recovering stolen assets.