"While the previous, discredited government tries to wash its hands of responsibility, investigators are continuing their work," Zoltan Tarr said in a post on Wednesday.

He said the government was awaiting further updates from the prosecutor's office, adding that those responsible must face consequences.

"It is already clear that the blame game has begun, as demonstrated by the remarks made by Fidesz's leader today," Tarr said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Viktor Orban, the former prime minister, described the investigation into the misuse of over 17 billion forints (EUR 44m) in funds disbursed by the NKA as a "show trial" aimed at legally disabling the opposition party, "which, despite a heavy defeat, is getting stronger".

In a video attached to his post, Tarr said one of the biggest tasks now was to review the anomalies of the past 15-20 years, with the NKA investigation being one of the most serious.

"The seized Fidesz servers are likely connected to the misuse of various funds at the NKA," he said.

Tarr welcomed that the prosecutor's office and tax and customs authority NAV have taken action, adding he was "eagerly awaiting further steps".

The minister said the government was hoping to identify all unjustified expenditures and recover the misused funds, and that a new, transparent grant system will be introduced this autumn.

Havasi: Prosecutors appear at Fidesz's server centre

Prosecution office investigators appeared unannounced at the data centre hosting opposition Fidesz's servers on Tuesday "to seize the party's entire communications system and databases", the party's communications director, Bertalan Havasi, said in a statement.

No such incident had occurred since 1990 at the end of communism in Hungary, he said. "Arbitrary rule has reached a new level today," Havasi added.

The Tisza Party's plan "to erase Fidesz and the resistance to autocracy through political means" had failed, he insisted, so the governing party was making an attempt to "legally disable Fidesz".

But "Fidesz will not yield to political or legal threats; it will not retreat and will counter Tisza's violent autocracy," he added.

Later in the day, a spokesperson for the prosecution office said at MTI's inquiry that the search had been conducted in connection with embezzlement and other crimes concerning funds distributed by the National Cultural Fund (NKA) under the previous government.

The spokesperson confirmed that the search had been held but declined to provide further information.

NKA is believed to have illegally distributed over 1,000 grants worth a combined 17 billion forints (EUR 47m) starting in December 2024. So far, six people have been detained including leaders of the fund and a former MP.

Fidesz MP Janos Lazar said that "what is now happening is not accountability but retaliation", adding that the government "expects the authorities to politically disable and annihilate Fidesz".

He said it was "very worrying" that the prosecution office "seeks access to Fidesz voters' data", which he said was "in stark opposition to a democratic political culture" with the authorities "not specifying what they are looking for".

Havasi said late on Tuesday afternoon in response to an inquiry from MTI for details, that to his knowledge, "the prosecutor's office, which has found a new role for itself in [Prime Minister] Peter Magyar's autocracy, is still rummaging through Fidesz's servers, including the data of Hungarians who support the opposition party."

"Fidesz is a party that brought about regime change, it has already successfully stood up to many pocket dictators," Havasi said. "Peter Magyar still has a long way to go if he wants to bring the largest community on the pro-nation side to it."

MTI Stock Photo

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

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