by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (Worthy News) – Hungary’s former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán condemned the current government Monday after his younger brother was reportedly detained in a human smuggling investigation, escalating tensions amid widening criminal investigations targeting figures from the previous Orbán administration.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar said Áron Orbán, born in 1977, had been arrested on suspicion of human smuggling, citing media reports, as investigators conducted raids in Budapest and surrounding Pest County. Authorities confirmed several arrests in two parallel criminal investigations but had not officially identified the former premier’s brother among those detained.

Hungarian media reported that investigators searched a property linked to Áron Orbán in Fótliget, a residential development in the town of Fót, northeast of Budapest, where counterterrorism officers reportedly appeared Monday morning.

Viktor Orbán accused Magyar’s government of using law enforcement agencies to eliminate political opponents. “I am the target, my brother is merely an instrument,” he wrote on Facebook, alleging that the government wanted to establish a one-party system.

Magyar responded that Orbán had effectively confirmed his brother’s detention through his reaction and accused the former premier of portraying himself as a victim. He added a pointed warning: “You reap what you sow.”

HUNGARY VISA INVESTIGATION

The raids came amid an investigation into allegations that Áron Orbán and business associates helped foreign nationals, particularly Vietnamese citizens, obtain Hungarian visas and European Union residence permits through questionable arrangements.

A firm linked to Áron Orbán allegedly enrolled Vietnamese nationals in a two-day lifesaving course at the University of Pécs, potentially helping them obtain visas allowing travel within Europe’s Schengen area, independent Hungarian news site Telex reported.

The former premier’s brother was also reportedly recorded discussing delayed visa applications with an official in the prime minister’s office during Viktor Orbán’s administration.

Four people had previously been identified as suspects in a related investigation into alleged influence peddling and other offenses, with two taken into custody in April. Áron Orbán was not among those formally named at the time.

The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, known by its Hungarian initials NVVH, and the National Bureau of Investigation said further information about Monday’s operations would be released later.

FORMER HUNGARIAN MINISTERS ARRESTED

The developments follow a series of corruption investigations involving senior figures from Orbán’s former government, which ruled Hungary for 16 years before Magyar’s Tisza party won April’s parliamentary elections.

Former Culture and Innovation Minister Balázs Hankó was detained in September over suspected misuse of public funds involving 17.3 billion forints (about $50 million), while ex-National Development Minister Miklós Seszták was arrested in a separate bribery investigation.

Hungary’s former central bank governor and Economy Minister György Matolcsy was detained in October over suspected financial crimes involving assets managed through a central bank foundation.

None of the officials have been convicted. Magyar’s government says it is pursuing accountability for alleged corruption under the previous Orbán administration, while the former premier’s right-wing Fidesz party accuses authorities of politically motivated prosecutions.

However, Magyar is also facing criticism over his government’s handling of sensitive records from Hungary’s communist-era security services.

COMMUNIST-ERA SECURITY ARCHIVES

Last Wednesday, Hungary’s Historical Archives of the State Security Services released about 60,000 names from communist-era security records under legislation backed by Magyar’s government, fulfilling a campaign promise to open archives that had remained largely closed since Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1989–1990. Historians caution that inclusion in the records does not necessarily mean a person worked as an informant.

His governing Tisza party boycotted Monday’s parliamentary National Security Committee meeting, called to examine errors in the newly released database. The committee could not formally convene because too few members attended.

An information technology mistake resulted in 164 people who had been monitored by communist authorities being wrongly identified as informants, including Sándor Lezsák, a former deputy speaker of parliament and prominent Fidesz politician, authorities said.

Magyar apologized for the mistake but dismissed the committee meeting as a political exercise organized by Orbán’s allies. The director-general of the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security Services, Gergő Bendegúz Cseh, offered his resignation Monday.

Orbán linked the controversy directly to his brother’s reported detention, accusing the government of diverting attention from the security records scandal.

POLITICAL TENSIONS DEEPEN

He invoked the ÁVH, Hungary’s feared communist-era secret police, which became notorious for surveillance, imprisonment, torture and repression under the Stalinist dictatorship.

Viktor Orbán’s accusations were echoed by Fidesz officials, who claimed the government was attempting to intimidate its opponents.

The latest developments have deepened Hungary’s political polarization as the new administration pursues investigations into alleged wrongdoing under Orbán while facing growing scrutiny over its own conduct.

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