In line with the sanctions, all property and interests in property of Rogan that are in the United States are blocked, and the regulations generally prohibit all business transactions by US persons with Rogan. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by Rogan are also blocked in the US.

Pressman said the reason for the decision was that Rogan had abused his official power to influence the business sector.

He added that Rogan was "a primary architect, implementer, and beneficiary of this system of corruption" in Hungary and he abused his official power for personal gain, as well as in the interest of other persons loyal to his party. In response to a question, Pressman said this was the reason why Rogan had been sanctioned and not the Hungarian prime minister.

He said the corruption weakened Hungarian institutions and democracy by "moving significant funds from the public purse into private pockets". He declined to answer a question concerning whether more Hungarian persons would be added to the sanctions list.

"Those closely connected to the ruling political party have acquired massive empires of holdings,” the US ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, said at a press conference.

“Antal Rogán is a primary architect, implementer and beneficiary of this system of corruption,” he continued.

"Today’s designation was not a decision the United States has taken lightly. It is not common for the United States to designate a sitting minister. Even less common to do so in an Allied country,” Pressman added.

According to a related US treasury statement Antal Rogán “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”.

After January 20, the United States will have a new government and a new president. After their inauguration, we will take the necessary legal steps,” Orbán said in a related statement.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday that the US placing Antal Rogan, the minister heading the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, on a sanctions list was "personal revenge" by the outgoing US ambassador who is leaving Hungary "without honour".

Szijjarto said on Facebook that "it is good that the people who will lead the US within a few days will view our country as a friend and not as an enemy".

Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, on Tuesday called the United States’ move to sanction Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office chief Antal Rogan "a petty act of revenge" by outgoing US Ambassador David Pressman and the Democratic administration.

Gulyas told MTI by phone that the decision to place Rogan on a sanctions list was "further proof that the outgoing US administration and ambassador want to exact revenge for Hungary and the Hungarian government having supported Donald Trump in the election campaign". 

He added that Trump had referenced the Hungarian government and Orban as positive examples more than he had any other foreign politician.

But Gulyas underlined that Pressman and the outgoing Democratic administration were "the past" when it came to Hungary-US relations.

He said the "petty and baseless act of revenge that will not be in effect for more than a few weeks" would be "a reminder that the United States had an ambassador who, in violation of his official duties and ignoring the Vienna Convention had done everything to oust the government rather than striving to establish good relations with the host country".

Transport minister: US sanctions against Rogan 'unfounded political provocation'

The United States' decision to put Antal Rogan, the head of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, on a sanctions list is an "unfounded political provocation", the transport and construction minister said on Wednesday.

Responding to a question at a press conference on another subject, Janos Lazar said: "The decision of a failed government with only weeks left in power, based on the petty revenge of a failed and unsuccessful US ambassador, cannot be taken seriously."

Further, the statement on systemic corruption in strategic sectors "is a lie, plain and simple", he said.

Lazar said the move was a crude interference with Hungarian sovereignty and domestic affairs, "unusual and unfair from an ally", and harmful to US-Hungarian ties.

"Neither side of the aisle can dispute that the innocence or guilt of a Hungarian citizen is for the Hungarian state to decide," he said.

Hungary's government stands by Antal Rogan, Lazar said. The government will contact the Trump administration as soon as he is inaugurated to clear up the issue within a legal procedure, and will take a stand for Rogan "as we would for any other Hungarian citizen", he said.

He said the sanctions list was "an excellent tool in the US' hands to put pressure on a country and push through its own views and interests".

Asked whether he had seen proof of the actions that had landed Rogan on the list, Lazar said "I suspect this is more based on suggestions."

He said he had seen no proof of wrongdoing in the case of Ildiko Vida either, a former head of the Hungarian tax and customs authority who was put on a sanctions list in 2014.

Cornstein: Sitting US administration 'hostile' to Hungary

The US decision to include Antal Rogan, the minister leading the Hungarian Cabinet Office, on a sanctions list is "terrible and shameful", a former US ambassador to Hungary told public media on Wednesday.

David Cornstein said the "move by outgoing ambassador David Pressman" was an example of the current US administration's hostile stance towards Hungary, "right down to the last hour".

While the Biden and Obama administrations had harmed Hungary and the US's interests by "a hostile approach to Hungary", the first Trump administration had fostered excellent ties with the country thanks to shared views on governance, immigration and defence priorities, Cornstein said, pointing as an example to the defence cooperation agreement signed by the two counries.

He said he expected cooperation to "flourish" during Trump's second term, and lamented the "lost opportunities of cooperation" under Biden's tenure.​​​​​​​

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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