Media report links Orbán to raid on Ukrainian cash convoy in Hungary
Viktor Orbán personally ordered the Oschadbank convoy to be stopped and set the date of the raid, according to the report (photo: Getty Images)
The raid on the Oschadbank convoy near Budapest on March 5 was not a routine inspection but a pre-planned political operation carried out on orders from specific officials, according to an investigation by Hungarian media outlet Telex.
Orbán set the date
Hungarian journalists found that the decision to carry out the raid on March 5 was made personally by then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, without any legal basis.
"The government, namely Viktor Orbán, decided that a raid on the Ukrainian 'gold convoy' should take place on March 5, even though from a professional standpoint there were no grounds for it. This emerged from the behind-the-scenes conversations that Telex conducted in recent weeks with sources familiar with or involved in the case," the publication said.
The date was also confirmed by the government's Constitution Protection Office (Hungary's domestic intelligence agency).
"At the beginning of March, a decision was received from the State Secretariat for the Supervision of Civil National Security Services under the Prime Minister's Office, according to which the raid on the money transport vehicles was to take place on March 5," the agency said in a comment to Telex.
Who carried it out, and who monitored it
The State Secretariat acted on Orbán's instructions. On the day of the convoy raid, it received real-time updates on the progress of the operation.
Several independent sources confirmed that it was the prime minister who insisted on carrying out the operation.
Why it was needed
According to Telex sources, Orbán decided to act in response to Ukraine's "shutdown" of the Druzhba oil pipeline (a major Soviet-era pipeline supplying Russian oil to parts of Central Europe), which had been damaged by Russian strikes. He was convinced that Kyiv was doing this deliberately for political reasons rather than because repairs were objectively impossible.
At the same time as the raid, the Hungarian government launched an information campaign. The media empire of the Fidesz party spread AI-generated images portraying the Ukrainian cash couriers as detained criminals.
The goal was twofold: to shift public attention to the allegedly questionable origin of the funds and to suggest that the money was financing the Hungarian opposition.
Detention of Oschadbank cash couriers in Hungary: How it happened
On March 5, an Oschadbank convoy transporting cash and gold worth about $80 million from Austria's Raiffeisen Bank to Ukraine was seized near Budapest.
During their detention, seven cash couriers were kept in handcuffs. One of them was given two injections between interrogations. Hungarian authorities later released the individuals but passed a law allowing the seizure of currency and valuables.
After the convoy was seized, the National Bank of Ukraine demanded that Hungary immediately release the Ukrainian citizens and provide an official explanation. The central bank emphasized that the transportation was carried out under an international contract between Raiffeisen Bank and Oschadbank and was conducted in accordance with existing customs procedures.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian side attempted to support its actions with evidence. Budapest claimed to have video footage from a gas station restroom allegedly showing document forgery and also referred to newly issued banknotes that had "never been in circulation." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry described these actions as "state banditry."
On May 6, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Hungary had returned all of Oschadbank's money and valuables in full following the change of government in the country.
On May 18, Hungary lifted the deportation orders and three-year Schengen entry bans imposed on the seven cash couriers and removed all related records from state registries.
