Hungary recovers $20 million in cash, some buried or hidden, in probe of ex-minister

BUDAPEST — Hungarian authorities have recovered nearly $20 million in cash, some buried in forests or hidden in farm buildings and warehouses, in a bribery investigation into Miklós Seszták, a minister under former leader ​Viktor Orbán.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar ousted Orbán after 16 years in power in an April election, pledging ‌to mend ties with the European Union strained by years of disagreements under Orbán, and to launch a sweeping investigation into allegations of graft.

The clampdown is part of an anti-graft drive the centre-right Magyar has dubbed “Operation Purgatory”, which 70% of respondents rated as “very important” in a survey by the ​pollster Median carried by news website HVG this week.

“During searches, investigators found large amounts of cash buried in forests, ​hidden in farm buildings, warehouses and a residential property, and stored in a high-value safe in ⁠a secluded location,” the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office said late on Friday.

Finance Minister András Kármán said it took a ​dozen State Treasury workers eight hours using banknote counters to count the cash that had been retrieved.

Magyar said the recovered cash ​signalled the end of what he described as a “mafia” led by Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz party…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business