Sensational accusation against Viktor Orban: why did Ukraine's cash-in-transit officers get detained?

3 October 2026, 16:58·31·World

A major political and criminal scandal is flaring up around former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. According to the influential international publication Financial Times, a criminal case is highly likely to be opened against the former head of government for the illegal detention of cash-in-transit vehicles belonging to a Ukrainian bank.

This investigation is expected to be one of the first major legal cases initiated against the former prime minister.

The convoy coming from Austria and the confiscated wealth

The conflict stems from an incident that occurred in Budapest in March of this year:

Two armored cash-in-transit vehicles belonging to Ukraine's Oschadbank, en route from Austria to Ukraine, were stopped in the Hungarian capital.
Inside the vehicles were a total of 40 million dollars, 35 million euros (approximately over 70 million euros in total), and 9 kilograms of gold bullion.
Hungarian special forces confiscated the valuables and sent the armored cars and cash-in-transit officers back to Ukraine.

At the time, Orban claimed that these massive funds were intended to finance his political opponents. However, the money and gold were later returned to Kyiv, and the Hungarian side closed the money laundering case, acknowledging the legal origin of the funds.

Was the order given personally by Orban?

Now, a re-investigation into the incident has begun. According to sources from the local publication Telex:

The order to stop and detain the Ukrainian convoy without any legal grounds was given personally by Viktor Orban himself.
Security agencies lacked sufficient legal grounds to carry out such an operation.

This investigation is part of a large-scale anti-corruption campaign launched by Peter Magyar's government against the former government elite and Orban's inner circle. So far, the head of Hungary's Counter-Terrorism Center has been accused of the illegal detention of and cruel treatment towards Ukrainians, and investigation procedures regarding Orban's actions directly are also entering their final stage.