Hungarian Scholar's Low-Capital Transactions Involving Hundreds of Millions in Assets; New Government Investigates Orban's Confidants

(Central News Agency reporter Guo Fangjun, Zurich, 24th) Hungarian scholar Mária Schmidt, a core advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has seen her family businesses receive government funding for a long time. Through a low-capital company established in Switzerland, she engaged in cross-border investments, acquiring significant equity in large Hungarian real estate companies. This operational model, combining political power, is a common practice among Orban's confidants, drawing attention from the new government and potentially becoming a key focus of investigation.

According to a report by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Mária Schmidt, a renowned Hungarian historian, has long served as a core advisor to Orban, considered one of his closest and most influential allies. Her family businesses have also received substantial government contracts and funding over the years.

The report states that Schmidt and her children jointly control a privately held real estate group, which owns numerous properties in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. They established Bfin Asset Management AG in Zurich, Switzerland, with a capital of only 100,000 Swiss Francs (approximately 4 million New Taiwan Dollars), and suddenly purchased a 33% stake in BIF, a large Hungarian real estate company, worth hundreds of millions of US dollars. The Schmidt family became the majority shareholder of this real estate group, conducting cross-border asset transactions through a Swiss company.

The report also mentions that the model of establishing a low-capital Swiss company, then intervening in Hungarian enterprises, and transferring assets back to politically central figures through cross-border transactions, is similar to how other Orban confidants have operated in the past.

Peter Magyar, the leader of the party that recently won the parliamentary election, also told the media that Schmidt has been one of the key figures in the Orban government for many years, and Hungarian public funds have flowed into her family businesses and foundations.

Tages-Anzeiger points out that the Schmidt family's holding company still holds part of the shares in this Zurich company. Therefore, when the Magyar government launches an investigation into the economic network of the Orban era, these Swiss transactions may become a focus of scrutiny.

The Central News Agency interviewed Silvia Honegger, a citizen with dual Swiss and Hungarian nationality, for her views on tracing overseas funds. She stated that in the past, Hungarian media of all sizes had repeatedly photographed Orban and his confidants entering and exiting luxury hotels on the shores of Lake Zurich, and that Orban has managed personal assets in Switzerland for 16 years. Orban's children and grandchildren also live in various European and American countries. Switzerland should only be a transit point for funds, and it would be difficult to recover the outflowing state-owned funds in a short period. (Editor: Tang Shengyang) 1150424

Choose to stand with facts, every sponsorship you provide is a force to protect press freedom.

Download the CNA "First-hand News" APP to stay updated with the latest news.

The text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.