PM Magyar says Orbán's remarks could constitute criminal threats to asset recovery staff

During a session of the Hungarian parliament, Prime Minister Péter Magyar denounced former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for comments that he said specifically threatened prosecutors, customs officers, police and investigators working for the newly created National Asset Recovery and Asset Protection Office. Magyar argued that the statements could meet the legal definition of violence against a public official, which carries a prison term of one to five years, and noted that Orbán no longer enjoys parliamentary immunity.

Orbán’s remarks, made in a televised interview after a closed-door speech, labeled the office as an "ÁVH-type" body and warned that its employees would be publicly identified and held accountable if his political side regained power. He also used the platform to criticize one outlet government’s approach to the economy, the planned euro adoption, and to call for unity within the right-wing Fidesz party. Magyar called on fellow MPs to stand in solidarity with the targeted officials. The dispute unfolds as the new administration prepares the asset recovery office to investigate alleged corruption from the previous sixteen years of Orbán’s rule.