Hungary lifts immunity of Prime Minister Magyar, two Orban-era ministers

Key Points:

• Hungary’s Parliament voted to strip Prime Minister Peter Magyar and two former ministers from Viktor Orban’s government of their immunity, enabling criminal investigations into allegations of theft, embezzlement, and bribery.
• Magyar requested the removal of his immunity to clear his name regarding a June 2024 incident where he allegedly took a phone from a man filming him and threw it into the Danube River, which he calls a politically motivated “sham.”
• Former Minister of Culture Balazs Hanko faces accusations of embezzling over 40 million euros in public funds, allegedly used to finance election campaigns and personal benefits, while former Minister of National Development Miklos Sesztak is investigated for accepting bribes related to state contracts.
• The corruption probes mark the first investigations into top officials from Orban’s 16-year nationalist government and follow Magyar’s Tisza party’s recent electoral victory promising to combat corruption and restore rule-of-law standards.
• Orban’s Fidesz party and its ally KDNP boycotted the parliamentary session, while Magyar’s new government prioritizes fighting corruption and plans to establish an asset-recovery office targeting misconduct from the previous administration.