The widespread corruption will be his downfall: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.Image: keystone
After 16 years under Viktor Orban, Hungary has become run down. Corruption runs through all levels of the state, as the site visit shows.
March 31, 2026, 10:37 p.mMarch 31, 2026, 11:12 p.m
Remo Hess, Felcsut / ch media
The destination of the trip is around 45 minutes by car from the capital Budapest. Surrounded by green meadows, embedded in a gentle hilly landscape, lies the old Habsburg estate “Hatvanpuszta”.
The 19th century property once belonged to Archduke Joseph of Austria. But now the host is Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary.
The access road is currently being resurfaced. Construction machines are standing around. Through a narrow gap in the privacy fence you can see what is hidden behind the entrance portal: a sprawling complex, lavishly renovated mansions, a meticulously maintained garden – everything hermetically sealed.
View through the privacy fence of “Hungary’s Versailles”, Viktor Orban’s Habsburg estate Hatvanpuszta.image: remo hess
«What do you want here?”asks the older man as he gets out of his trailer, which serves as a bus shelter. He’s the guard here, gray hair, round stomach. He doesn’t seem to have a lot of work.
«Hello, we are journalists. We just want to take a photo.”
“Why? What’s interesting to see?” he asks back.
“Well, Orban’s little Versailles. That’s interesting.”
More dutiful than alarmed, he goes back to his trailer and reports the uninvited guests on the radio.
«Who is it? Is it Hadhazy?”it sounds back from the loudspeaker.
“Nem, nem” – “No, no,” says the guard in Hungarian and adds:
“It’s just two faggots.”
Welcome to Hungary!
Akos Hadhazy regularly organizes trips for citizens to Hatvanapuszta. Here in September 2025.image: denes erdos
Swimming pools, luxurious guesthouses and a safari zoo
Or “Welcome to Orbanistan!”, one would probably have to say.
Hadhazy, who was mentioned on the radio, is called Akos Hadhazy. He is an independent member of the Hungarian parliament and something of an enemy of the state in his own country – at least from the government’s point of view.
He has been documenting corruption, tracking money flows and exposing networks for years. It is also thanks to him that the issue is playing a decisive role for the first time in the current election campaign.
The zebras graze in Orban’s safari zoo.image: fb akos hadhazy
Last year, the trained veterinarian walked through the gate of Hatvanpuszta, which happened to be open. A video document was created that shows the luxury of the Orban family palace: swimming pools, palm gardens, a main house with over 2,000 square meters of living space, a two-story library, a catering kitchen and several luxurious guest houses.
In an adjacent park, Hadhazy even encountered exotic animals such as antelopes and zebras.
Hobby pilot Hadhazy sometimes flies over the site in a plane to document the progress of the extensive renovation work.
Hatvanpuszta, which officially belongs to Orban’s father and is currently being renovated at a cost of more than 30 million euros, according to estimates, has become a symbol of the systematic enrichment of the Orban clique.
«The property belongs to the king. And he is Orban »
Another example can be found about 10 minutes by car from Hatvanpuszta. In Felcsut, Viktor Orban’s home village, there is the Pancho Arena – a football stadium that doesn’t fit into this rural environment. The stadium has almost 4,000 seats; more than twice as many as Felcsut has inhabitants.
Architecturally the building is impressive. Designed by the Hungarian star architect Imre Makovecz, supported by a delicate wooden structure whose arches are reminiscent of a forest – or a cathedral. A building made of wood and slate, monumental and playful at the same time. The Swiss national team played here in 2023 when they were unable to travel to their opponents in Israel because of the war in Gaza.
A building made of wood and slate: The Pancho Arena in Orban’s home village is his personal prestige project.image: remo hess
It is no coincidence that the Pancho Arena is in Felcsut. Viktor Orban is considered football crazy and the stadium is his “prestige project”. His parents’ house is directly adjacent to the sports facility. The construction was financed almost entirely by donations from companies, which, thanks to a special law, were able to deduct them completely from their taxes. So the state, or rather the taxpayer, paid.
But Felcsut is special in other ways too. It is popularly known as the “Village of Miracles”. There is, for example, the infamous narrow-gauge railway: two million euros from EU funding went into the renovation. It connects Felcsut with the Alcsúter Arboretum, a botanical garden. In the EU funding application, the Hungarian government stated that several thousand tourists would use the train every day. In reality there are at most a few dozen – if the train runs at all.
«It’s like in feudalism: the wealth belongs to the king. And he is Orban.”
Hatvanpuszta, the Pancho Arena, the narrow-gauge railway: these are stops on a “corruption safari” that can easily be explored on a day trip from Budapest. But they form only the surface of a system of organized corruption that runs through all levels of Hungarian statehood. Of course, it starts at the top, as corruption hunter Hadhazy describes it: “It’s like in feudalism: the wealth belongs to the king. And he is Orban.”
Orban’s childhood friend: From gas fitter to Hungary’s richest man
The linchpin of this system is public procurement, where EU funding plays a central role. 80 billion euros have flowed to Hungary since Orban took office. The German MEP Daniel Freund estimates that around a quarter, i.e. 20 billion, was simply stolen. He therefore speaks of a “mafia state” that Orban created.
Lörinc Meszaros plays a central role. He is a close childhood friend of Orban and also from Felcsut. During the years of his reign he rose from a simple gas fitter to the richest man in Hungary. His fortune is estimated at around 5 billion euros. He himself explains the meteoric rise as follows: “God, luck and Viktor Orban.”
In practice, this means that Meszaros and his over 300 companies are specifically awarded public contracts. There is no competition, and if there is, it is often just fictitious entries.
His field of activity ranges from road construction and energy to the construction of the Pak II nuclear power plant in cooperation with the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. Wherever the state spends money, Meszaros comes into play. He has long been referred to as “Orban’s wallet”. Hadhazy suspects that Orban is actually behind Meszaros’ wealth. Quite similar to what we know from Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs.
A sip of Palinka: Viktor Orban with his son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz, who has become one of the richest Hungarians through public contracts.image: facebook orban
Another example is Orban’s son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz, the husband of Rahel, Orban’s eldest daughter. At 39, he is one of the richest Hungarians with an estimated fortune of at least 400 million euros. Corruption hunter Hadhazy believes that it is actually around 1 billion euros.
Son-in-law Tiborcz became rich by building street lighting. With his company Elios, he was able to convert street lamps all over the country to LED on behalf of the state. After EU proceedings regarding manipulated tenders and excessive prices, he was ordered to repay 40 million euros in 2018. The state, or rather the taxpayer, then took over the bill, which led to the so-called Elios scandal. As a result, Tiborcz said goodbye to the street lamp business. Today he focuses his activities on tourism and luxury real estate.
Government money is being diverted to private equity funds
In addition, in recent years there has been a particularly lucrative, because it is not transparent, line of business: the business with so-called “private equity funds”. Over 200 of these funds from private investors have popped up in Hungary in recent years. The highlight is that because of a loophole in the law, no one knows who they really belong to.
According to Judit Zeisler from the Budapest office of Transparency International, over five percent of the entire Hungarian economy is already controlled by these funds. The co-investor is the Hungarian state itself.
The system is complex and highly opaque; To put it simply, it can be said that government money is pumped into various economic sectors through these vehicles. For example, in the construction of office properties, which are then sold back to the state at high profit margins. The fund acts as a kind of “middleman” in moving state money into private pockets.
Orban’s oligarch Meszaros and his son-in-law Tiborcz are heavily active in this area. There is at least one documented case in which funds associated with them and another businessman from Orban’s environment received around 1 billion euros in public money.
Anyone who does not come to terms with Fidesz in the village risks reprisals
But it can also be less complex, as a visit to Törtel shows, a village in the Hungarian plain, around 1.5 hours from Budapest. There we meet Ferenc Perlaki on the sidelines of an appearance by opposition leader Peter Magyar.
Perlaki was himself an independent candidate in the 2024 mayoral elections and knows how corrupt power works at the local level.
It’s very simple: Anyone who doesn’t get along well with the local Fidesz authorities risks being harmed. Like the independent bakery in the village that supplied the kindergarten with bread. When it became known after the elections that the operators had not voted for Fidesz, their contract was withdrawn. A little later, the bakery had to close the shop, says Perlaki.
He was discouraged from running against the incumbent Fidesz mayor: Ferenc Perlaki.image: remo hess
The reason that this system is now cracking after years is that the basic functions of the state are breaking down more and more. This is also confirmed by Perlaki’s wife, a German-Hungarian who returned to her parents’ homeland from Germany a few years ago. When their teenage son recently had to go to the hospital in the nearest town, they didn’t just have to bring him food. But also the toilet paper. This is because there was none in the hospital itself. And that in a country in the European Union, she adds. (aargauerzeitung.ch)