Hungary: Former Minister Miklós Seszták Detained on Bribery Suspicions

Hungary's former development minister was detained by the newly empowered asset recovery office after his parliamentary immunity was stripped.

Former Hungarian Development Minister Miklós Seszták has been detained on bribery suspicions, Hungarian news outlets Portfolio.hu and Telex reported. His arrest was carried out on orders from the National Asset Recovery and Property Protection Office, whose enforcement powers took effect just a day earlier.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar stated in a parliamentary address that Seszták is suspected of accepting over 11 billion forints in bribes. The asset recovery office has taken charge of four high-profile corruption probes, while newly surfaced investigative files also link former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the seizure of assets valued at tens of billions of forints. Further details regarding the investigation have not yet been released.