Budapest (AFP) – The United States announced sanctions against the head of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in corruption. Antal Rogan, a minister who oversees the country’s intelligence services and government communication, has “orchestrated schemes designed to control several strategic sectors of the Hungarian economy and to divert proceeds from those sectors to himself and to reward loyalists from his political party,” said a US Treasury statement.
“This systemic corruption Antal Rogan represents is affecting Hungary’s decision-making on issues that impact the security of the United States of America and our allies,” US ambassador to Hungary David Pressman told a press briefing. He noted that “private and public efforts to engage the Hungarian government on this issue have been unsuccessful.” Rogan’s activity is “emblematic of the broader climate of impunity in Hungary where key elements of the state have been captured by oligarchs and undemocratic actors,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
US-Hungary relations have become frosty in recent years, with Washington frequently criticizing Budapest over democratic backsliding. But Orban hopes his “dear friend” US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office will normalize relations between the NATO allies. “This is the personal revenge of the ambassador sent by the failed US administration to Hungary, who leaves unsuccessfully and in disgrace, against Antal Rogan,” Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook. “How good that in a few days’ time the United States will be led by people who see our country as a friend and not an enemy,” he added.
Since Orban’s return to power in 2010, Hungary has fallen from 50th to 76th place in Transparency International’s corruption perception index, ranking last among EU members in 2023. During the same period, the nationalist leader’s inner circle has grown wealthy from public tenders. Orban’s confidant Lorinc Meszaros and his son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz now control large swathes of the economy.
The European Union has frozen around 19 billion euros ($20 billion) in EU funds earmarked for Hungary over alleged corruption in public procurement, among other issues. Budapest has lost access to around one billion euros of the suspended funds. The central European country claims Brussels is withholding the funds to pressure it over its self-described “illiberal” transformation and denies corruption accusations.
The US sanctions against Rogan fall under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The action freezes the assets under US jurisdiction of those blacklisted and forbids Americans and US companies from doing business with the targets.
© 2024 AFP
