Budapest (AFP) – Hungarian MPs elected a new prosecutor general on Tuesday as part of Prime Minister Peter Magyar's initiative to hold his predecessor as head of government, nationalist Viktor Orban, and his allies suspected of corruption to account.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 15:39

Parliament confirmed Peter Fejes, 65, a career prosecutor who recently retired, to the key post at a time when investigations into top-level corruption are accelerating in Hungary.

Three former ministers are currently in detention, including Gyorgy Matolcsy, who headed the central bank for 12 years and who was once considered by Mr. Orban as his “right-hand man”.

Mr Fejes received 139 votes in his favor - six MPs voted against him - in a secret ballot in the 199-member assembly, where Mr Magyar's Tisza party holds more than two-thirds of the seats.

Viktor Orban's Fidesz party and its ally the KDNP, for their part, boycotted the vote.

“On behalf of all Hungarians, I wish you every success in your work. Tremble, thieves! And all the other criminals too,” Mr. Magyar said on Facebook, shortly after Mr. Fejes was sworn in to Parliament for a nine-year term.

Hungarians' trust in the prosecution has eroded during Mr Orban's 16 years of rule, with critics accusing the highly centralized institution of shielding the prime minister's inner circle from scrutiny.

Apologies

“The emphasis must be placed on professionalism, speed and independence from politics,” Mr. Fejes told the conservative website Valasz Online, saying he was ready to reopen closed files.

After his election, he apologized to Parliament for "certain decisions taken by the prosecution in recent times – or its inaction – which have rightly and understandably offended the people's sense of justice."

A first candidate for the post of prosecutor general was dismissed last month due to suspicions against his brother in the Ukrainian "gold convoy" affair, namely the interception in March of armored vehicles from the Ukrainian public bank Oschadbank crossing Hungary.

Seven employees were detained and millions of dollars, euros and gold bars were seized.

The previous attorney general, Gabor Balint Nagy, resigned in July under pressure from Peter Magyar, who promised to rid Hungary of “all the puppets” of Viktor Orban. His departure had also been linked to the “golden convoy” controversy.

This spectacular operation, a few weeks before the legislative elections, while Viktor Orban campaigned on the security threat posed, according to him, by kyiv, ultimately ended in a dismissal of the case. Those arrested were released and the money and gold bars seized were returned.

However, an investigation remains ongoing. The prosecutor in charge of the case, Pal Furcht, resigned in June after claiming that the evidence pointed to the direct involvement of Viktor Orban.

“Bare minimum”

Other potentially explosive investigations for the former power are underway.

Gyorgy Matolcsy, Minister of the Economy from 2010 to 2013 before taking charge of the central bank, was arrested last month for serious economic fraud. An international arrest warrant has also been issued against his son Adam Matolcsy.

Two other former ministers have been detained since September. Former Minister of Culture Balazs Hanko is accused of having embezzled more than 40 million euros of public money for the benefit of Viktor Orban's electoral campaign.

Miklos Sesztak is accused of having accepted several million euros in bribes when he was Minister of National Development between 2014 and 2018. Investigators discovered two safes weighing 1.6 tonnes each at his home, although empty.

Faced with these events, Viktor Orban, who led Hungary from 2010 to 2026, denounces procedures of a "political" nature intended to reach him and destroy his party, Fidesz.

For lawyer Lorant Horvath, however, these cases are only the tip of the iceberg.

“The prosecutors have so far only done the bare minimum,” he lamented to AFP, stressing that numerous revelations concerning much more serious embezzlement remain to be examined.

"There are so many cases that it seems inevitable that Viktor Orban will end up being held responsible. The gold convoy is the most obvious place to start because the investigation into it is almost complete," he added.

The director of the new anti-corruption agency, the NVVH, Anna Unger, however, warned that achieving any convictions could take many years.

A government online site already lists more than 60 cases transmitted to investigators, involving billions of euros of public money.

© 2026 AFP

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