Hungary sends Oschadbank vehicles back to Ukraine empty
Photo: Head of the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Gergely Gulyás (Getty Images)
Hungary will return the seized Oschadbank cash transport vehicles to Ukraine, but empty. The condition for the return of the stolen funds was announced in Budapest, according to Gergely Gulyás, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Hungary.
The Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) has announced that it will return two Ukrainian cash collection vehicles detained last week, but empty.
At the same time, Gulyás says that there are no suspicions in this particular case, but the investigation is being conducted in accordance with anti-money laundering rules.
"One thing can be said for certain: the shipment contained an unprecedented amount of foreign currency and a lot of gold," the Hungarian government representative adds.
According to him, if there are no reasonable grounds for suspicion, the money must be returned to Ukraine.
Hungary stole Oschadbank funds
On March 5, two Oschadbank vehicles accompanying seven cash collectors were unjustifiably detained in Hungary.
The vehicles were transporting $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kilograms of gold as part of a regular shipment of foreign currency and gold between Raiffeisen Bank Austria and Oschadbank.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry assured that Ukraine would take appropriate measures, including initiating sanctions, due to the detention of Ukrainian citizens in Hungary.
On the same day, Ukraine managed to return the seven cash collectors, but the bank's property is still in Hungary.
For more details on why Budapest detained the cash collectors and whether there will be a currency shortage in the country due to this incident, see the article by RBC-Ukraine.
