Cash buried in forests and farm sheds: Hungary seizes $20m in bribery probe

Hungarian investigators spent two days pulling cash out of hiding places across the country: safes, woodland burial spots, farm buildings, homes and warehouses. The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH) said in a statement that the seizure totalled 5,071,632,000 forints, €2,658,350 and $1,257,100, a combined value of $19.5m. The money has been moved into the Hungarian State Treasury.

The search is part of a probe into Miklós Seszták, who ran the national development ministry for four of Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power. He is accused of accepting bribes in a scheme tied to the state transport company. Seszták has denied any wrongdoing.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who unseated Orbán in an April landslide on an anti-corruption platform, framed Friday's find as a turning point, calling it the end of the quote-flagged mafia. His government set up the NVVH specifically to chase corruption allegations from the Orbán years, branding the effort Operation Purgatory. Magyar campaigned on delivering regime change and has been rolling back Orbán-era policies since taking office.

Suspicions of graft and cronyism shadowed Orbán throughout his tenure, which saw the EU characterise Hungary as an electoral autocracy.