Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán informed that the country's government has opened an investigation into the fact that employees of the Ukrainian state-owned bank Oschadbank brought tens of millions of USD and euros in cash and gold into Hungary.
Speaking at a meeting with activists of the Fidesz party - Hungarian Civic Alliance in Debrecen city, Mr. Orbán expressed concern about the purpose of this money as well as those who will receive it.
We want to understand what Ukrainians are doing with such a large amount of money in Hungary," Mr. Orbán said.
The Hungarian leader also said he had "certain suspicions" about the incident.
He believes that some political parties in Hungary with pro-Ukrainian views seem to be benefiting financially from this source of money.
However, according to him, not all funding from the aforementioned parties comes from legal donations.
Previously, Budapest accused Kiev of publicly supporting the opposition Tisza Party - Fidesz's main rival, before the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12.
According to Hungarian law, political parties receiving funding from abroad is a criminal offense.
I want to know which pockets this money has flowed into. We will find the answer" - Mr. Orbán emphasized in a speech broadcast on Hungarian television.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also emphasized that the handling of confiscated money will depend on their origin. "We will determine what kind of money it is and handle it according to regulations," he said.
On March 6, the Hungarian Customs and Tax Authority announced the temporary detention of 7 Oschadbank employees, including a former general of the Ukrainian secret service. The group of 7 Ukrainians was discovered transporting about 40 million USD in cash, 35 million euros in cash and 9kg of gold bars - worth about 1.5 million USD according to the current world gold price.
This Ukrainian property was transported by 2 specialized money transport vehicles.
Afterwards, the vehicles were returned and returned to Ukraine, but cash and gold were still kept in Hungary as evidence for the criminal investigation. The investigation was supported by the Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Center.
The Ukrainian side has rejected the accusation and said that Hungary's seizure of money and gold is unfounded. According to Kiev, this money was legally withdrawn from Raiffeisen Bank International in Vienna, Austria and is being transported to Kiev to serve Oschadbank's operations.
The seizure of Ukrainian money and gold occurred amid tensions between the two countries over Hungary's access to Russian oil through an oil pipeline passing through Ukrainian territory.
Oil transportation through the Druzhba oil pipeline has been interrupted since January 27. Ukraine said that a Russian drone attack damaged the pipeline's infrastructure and the repair posed risks for technicians. Kiev said that even if restored, the Druzhba pipeline remains vulnerable to further attacks.
However, the Hungarian government accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying Russian oil supplies and declared that it would take retaliatory measures until oil flows resumed.
