An audit uncovered that Szijjarto and his delegation used private jets for 19 official trips last year, all approved by Szijjarto himself, Velkey said in a post on Facebook.

Eight trips cost under 100 million forints each, including a near 1.5 million forint fee for a stopover in Istanbul, while nine trips ranged between 100-200 million forints, and two exceeded 200 million forints, he said.

The average cost per trip was over 107 million forints, with 11 of the 19 trips exceeding this amount.

The cheapest charter was a one-day Budapest-Banja Luka-Budapest trip in November, costing around 12 million forints.

The most expensive was a three-day visit to the United States in February, with the Budapest-New York-Washington-Budapest route costing nearly 246 million forints, the state secretary said.

A June trip from Budapest to Mexico City, San Salvador, Geneva, and back also exceeded 202 million forints.

"So the failed government took over 2 billion forints from Hungarian taxpayers last year alone so their pro-Russian foreign minister could jet around the world in luxury," Velkey said. "Even to destinations like Bratislava or Vienna, just two hours away by train. What an absolute waste. And these are just the charter costs. Hotels and other expenses are on top of that."

Opposition Fidesz responded by saying that the total cost of Szijjarto's work had been "in line with European standards".

Bertalan Havasi, Fidesz's communications director, said Szijjarto "was, as everyone knows, Europe's best foreign minister and also served as minister of foreign trade, securing numerous advantages, benefits and investments for Hungary through his work."
 

Velkey: Szijjarto spent HUF 5 bn on private flights between 2022-2026

Former foreign minister Peter Szijjarto spent nearly five billion forints (EUR 14m) on 53 private flights on official trips between 2022 and 2026, Laszlo Gyorgy Velkey, state secretary at the foreign ministry, said on Facebook on Friday.

According to Velkey's post, the former foreign minister "not only flew to Washington, New York, Beijing, Turkmenistan or the Philippines but to Belgrade and Bucharest" using charter flights. "He even flew back from Vienna on a luxury flight," Velkey added.

​​​​​​​"This was an appalling burning of money," Velkey said, adding that his ministry was assessing aspects of "criminal responsibility".

MTI Stock Photo

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

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