Ankara: Hungary's former Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday accused prosecutors of acting on political orders after investigators seized servers and data belonging to his Fidesz party, local media reported. Orban said authorities had taken the party's entire membership register, internal correspondence system, and confidential personal data during an operation Tuesday.
According to Anadolu Agency, Orban claimed the investigation involving the National Cultural Fund, known by its Hungarian abbreviation NKA, was being used as a pretext to prevent Fidesz from operating. 'This only happens in severe dictatorships,' Orban said on the US social media platform Facebook, describing the investigation as a politically motivated operation against his party.
Investigators reportedly searched a Magyar Telekom data center on Asztalos Sandor Street in Budapest's 8th district, where Fidesz's servers are operated. The authorities allegedly copied internal communications and seized equipment, leaving the party's email accounts unusable and its website inaccessible. Fidesz's lawyers were present during the operation.
Bertalan Havasi, the party's communications director, said investigators arrived without prior notice and intended to seize Fidesz's entire communications system and databases. He described the action as unprecedented in Hungary since the end of communist rule.
Orban and Fidesz's newly elected parliamentary group leader, Janos Boka, held a news conference outside the party's headquarters on Lendvay Street, saying the briefing could not be held inside because the seizure of the servers had left the building without internet access. Boka said the party was considering filing a complaint alleging abuse of office.
The operation may be connected to an investigation into the National Cultural Fund over allegations that substantial state subsidies were awarded to individuals and organizations linked to Fidesz. Investigators suspect that the fund's decision-making body awarded 1,079 grants worth more than 17 billion Hungarian forints (about $53 million) in violation of applicable laws and internal regulations beginning in December 2024.
Balazs Bus, a former vice president of the fund, and several executives of the organization managing it were detained in late June and subsequently remanded in custody.