The charges state that 46 billion forints (EUR 121m) of drug money was laundered by the gang who smuggled euros and dollars to Hungary and deposited it in bank accounts in the country and Slovakia.

The gang was led by a Vietnamese national who moved to Budapest in the late 1980s, the municipal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Under a deal with Colombian drug dealers, the man contracted 19 Hungarians accomplices to launder drug money mainly linked to cocaine distribution in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Spain.

The gains were then transferred to companies in Asia.

The prosecutor is seeking prison terms and fines for members of the gang as well as the expulsion of the Vietnamese defendant.