Orbans Ex-Minister: Im Wald vergraben: Ermittler in Ungarn finden Millionen Euro

Hungarian anti-corruption investigators from the NVVH have discovered €17.7 million in cash hidden in underground tunnels, storage rooms, and safes in various parts of the country. The bundles of euros, dollars, and forints were found during investigations into oppositional MP and former Development Minister Miklos Sesztak. Sesztak, 58, was considered Orban's most loyal lieutenant in northeastern Hungary.

He was arrested in September on suspicion of corruption for allegedly damaging the state-owned bus company Volan with procurement deals worth dozens of millions of euros while he was Minister (2014-2018). The authority also released a video showing the officials securing the allegedly illegally acquired wealth. The money was reportedly found in Budapest and its surroundings as well as in the north and southeast of the country, with bundles and packages of euro, dollar, and forint notes visible.

Eruptions of corruption have also been ongoing in Orban's family since the appointment of Prime Minister Peter Magyar, whose civic Tisza party decisively defeated Orban's Fidesz party. On Wednesday, the trial chamber imposed preventive detention on Orban's younger brother Aron, accusing him of human trafficking and abusing his political influence.

Orban and Fidesz leadership refer to prominent detained suspects like Sesztak, former Culture Minister Balazs Hanko, or Aron Orban as "victims" of political arbitrary justice. In a Budapest church, they were recently prayed for. Magyar allegedly wants to exterminate the opposition and establish a dictatorship. The pictures of the buried millions shocked many Fidesz supporters.

Fidesz faction leader Janos Boka called on Sesztak to resign on Saturday. In Hungary, like in Germany, the imposition of preventative detention on an MP does not automatically lead to the loss of the mandate. Orban commented on Sesztak's supposed million-dollar find on Saturday, writing on his Facebook page: "Our political community is not like this, we are not like this, Fidesz is not like this."

However, the popularity of his party is in free fall. According to a recent survey, Fidesz had only 20 percent of the votes four months ago at the April election, and now stands at 20 percent.