Hungarian Foreign Minister Files Criminal Complaint Over Pandemic Procurement

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán has filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the Prosecutor General regarding COVID 19 procurements made during the tenure of former foreign minister Péter Szijjártó. The complaint focuses on purchases made in March and April 2020 that were exempted from public procurement procedures. These procurements, which totaled approximately 300 billion forints or over 827 million euros, included PCR tests, medication, personal protective equipment, and 16,853 ventilators. This figure represents the vast majority of the 19,002 ventilators purchased nationwide during the pandemic.

According to Minister Orbán, an internal audit revealed serious problems regarding the price, quantity, usefulness, and financial rationality of the deals. She stated that the findings raise suspicions of misappropriation causing significant financial damage and other criminal offenses. Specifically, the minister noted that the average price paid for delivered machines was 17 million forints, while the same models were available from the manufacturer for between 1,000 and 5,000 dollars. In one instance involving Proconcept Kft. the difference in value was approximately 5.8 billion forints.

Minister Orbán reported that documentation regarding these procurements was initially incomplete. However, investigators used IT tools to recover 130,000 files totaling 88 gigabytes of data. A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that the complaint is directed against unknown perpetrators and that the findings establish suspicion rather than guilt. The ministry emphasized that only the investigating authorities and the court can decide the question of liability.