Page 46 - bneMagazine March 2023 oil discount

46 I Central Europe bne March 2023
Gyorgy Schadl, the head of the Hungarian Chamber of Bailiffs (MBVK) escorted to the courtroom in the preliminary hearing of the corruption case. / Nepszava
Hungary’s highest-profile corruption case lifts the veil on how Orban's regime really operates
TAamas Csonka in Budapest landmark corruption trial
has begun of top Hungarian justice ministry official
Pal Volner and his alleged
accomplices in a case that throws
a rare glimpse of the rampant graft under Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s autocratic regime.
Volner and Gyorgy Schadl, the head
of the Hungarian Chamber of Bailiffs (MBVK), are among 22 people charged with offences including corruption, property crimes, and money laundering. Volner and Schadl deny all the charges.
The documents and wiretapped conversations in the case unveil a country run in a mafia-style way, where state bodies collaborate with criminals
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and the justice system covers up any involvement of high-ranking officials.
The European Commission and opposition parties have long criticised Orban’s government for failing to investigate the country’s widespread corruption, and ignoring the frequent allegations made on independent media news sites.
The prevalence of corruption as a motivation for many top officials and
as a grease for the wheels of the regime has turned Hungary into the EU's most corrupt country, according to Transparency International. No country globally has fallen further in the ranking in the 12 years of Orban’s rule than Hungary.
The former justice ministry state
secretary is the highest ranking Fidesz official to be put on trial for corruption since Orban’s return to power in 2010.
Last year the EU demanded that Orban’s regime demonstrate more seriousness about tackling corruption or risk losing EU funds that are being put in peril. Hungary is still negotiating to release the funds.
This case therefore offers the Orban government a chance to show its seriousness, though critics argue that much more senior figures in the case have been carefully kept out of the investigation by the regime-appointed prosecutors.
Opposition MPs say it is unlikely high-ranking cabinet ministers will be