A former Socialist deputy mayor of Budapest’s Óbuda district has testified that politicians from both Fidesz and the MSZP operated a cross‑party corruption network for almost two decades, sharing kickbacks from public contracts in a shifting 70–30 split. The allegations, reported by Telex and covered by Daily News Hungary, implicate senior local figures from both parties and have prompted a reaction from Prime Minister Péter Magyar, while investigators say the probe is ongoing and several politicians deny wrongdoing.
Allegations of a long‑running cross‑party corruption network
A former MSZP deputy mayor of Budapest’s Óbuda district has delivered explosive testimony alleging that politicians from both Fidesz and the Socialist Party operated a long‑running cross‑party corruption network, sharing kickbacks from public procurement contracts for nearly two decades. The allegations, published by Telex and based on witness statements given to prosecutors, describe one of the most significant claims of institutionalised cross‑party corruption to emerge in Hungary in recent years.
As reported by Hetzmann Mercédesz of Daily News Hungary, the central figure is former MSZP deputy mayor Gergő Czeglédy, who was arrested in 2024 on corruption charges and spent nine months in custody. As part of a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, he gave detailed testimony describing what he alleged was a sophisticated corruption system involving politicians from both the left and the right.
Origins under Fidesz administration in Óbuda
According to Czeglédy’s statement, the arrangement began during the Fidesz administration of former Óbuda mayor Balázs Bús, when then‑Fidesz deputy mayor Péter Puskás allegedly approached him seeking companies that would return part of their profits in exchange for municipal contracts. Czeglédy admitted creating a company called KBT Kft., officially registered under a front person but secretly controlled by him, which allegedly became a subcontractor on municipal maintenance projects.
“The agreement was that the dividends taken from the company would be split equally between Péter Puskás and myself,”
Czeglédy told prosecutors, according to the published testimony. He claimed the company carried out genuine work but also generated substantial profits that were later shared between the two politicians.
Continuity after 2019 opposition victory and the 70–30 split
Perhaps the most striking allegation is that the system allegedly continued unchanged even after the 2019 local elections, when the opposition defeated Fidesz and László Kiss became mayor of Óbuda. According to prosecutors, before 2019, the alleged kickbacks were divided with 70% going to the Fidesz side and 30% to the Socialists. After the change in administration, those proportions allegedly reversed, with the Socialist side receiving 70% and Fidesz 30%.
Czeglédy went even further in his testimony, claiming that local Fidesz and MSZP politicians had reached an understanding as early as 2006 to divide corruption proceeds while avoiding scrutiny of each other’s sensitive municipal affairs.
Public contracts, favoured firms and inflated prices
The investigation centres on contracts awarded to Pannon Park Forest Kft., which repeatedly won large municipal tenders worth billions of forints for park maintenance and city management between 2013 and 2023. According to testimony from the company’s owner, identified only as Zsolt Z., procurement criteria were allegedly drafted to favour a narrow group of companies.
He also alleged that contract prices included an additional 8–10% specifically intended to finance kickback payments. The KBT company allegedly received around 30% of the subcontracted work despite having almost no employees, instead outsourcing much of the work while earning substantial profits.
Political reactions: Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s response
PM Magyar reacts: Fidesz and MSZP plundered Hungary in a 70–30 split. Fidesz and the MSZP have plundered the country in a 70–30 split, the prime minister wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
“The corruption scandal involving the grand coalition in Budapest illustrates on a small scale how Fidesz and the MSZP have divided up—or stolen—the country in a 70:30 ratio over the past 20 years,”
Péter Magyar stated.
As reported by 24.hu, Prime Minister Péter Magyar reacted on his social media to the Monday morning news that former MSZP Óbuda deputy mayor Gergő Czeglédy gave a detailed confession in 2024 about how a corruption network operated during the tenure of former Fidesz mayor Balázs Bús. The post also named current left‑wing mayor László Kiss and former Fidesz deputy mayor Péter Puskás as implicated in the affair.
Investigation status, detentions and denials
The prosecution is continuing its investigation into the alleged corruption network, including whether the claimed political agreement between Fidesz and MSZP existed and how long it may have operated. At this stage, many of the most serious allegations originate from witness testimony given by cooperating suspects. Several of the politicians involved deny wrongdoing, and no final court judgment has yet been delivered.
As reported by Hungarian Conservative, the broader probe involves several current and former politicians from across Hungary’s political spectrum who have been arrested in connection with an alleged HUF 2 billion bribery network, with authorities expanding one of the country’s longest‑running corruption investigations. On Thursday, 4 June, a Budapest court ordered the 30‑day pre‑trial detention of current District II Mayor Gergely Őrsi, former District II Mayor Zsolt Láng, former Socialist MP Zsolt Molnár, former Óbuda deputy mayor and local Fidesz leader Péter Puskás, two politicians from the progressive Momentum party, and two company executives. All have appealed the ruling.
According to the Central Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Investigation, the case centres on a businessman who allegedly paid more than HUF 2 billion in bribes to local government officials, councillors, and politicians in exchange for influence and municipal contracts. Prosecutors claim the payments continued for years regardless of changes in political leadership and involved politicians from both the left and the right of the political spectrum.
Related developments: Puskás’s detention lifted and Bús’s separate case
The Central Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Investigation requested the detention of several III. and II. district politicians, including Péter Puskás, in the cross‑party corruption affair on 4 June. In early July, pre‑trial detention measures restricting Puskás Péter’s liberty were lifted, with authorities citing that the special grounds for ordering his detention had ceased to exist.
Former Fidesz Óbuda mayor Balázs Bús is currently held as a suspect in a separate case concerning NKA support funds.
Context: wider anti‑corruption drive after April election
The investigation, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade, has gained significant momentum over the past two months following the landslide victory of Péter Magyar and the Tisza Party in the 12 April election. Involving politicians and local power brokers from Fidesz, Momentum, and the Hungarian Socialist Party, the case embodies what Tisza described during its election campaign and after taking office as the systemic corruption of Hungary’s “old elite”.
Since taking office, his government has prepared the legal and institutional framework necessary to launch several high‑profile investigations into alleged abuses of public funds and has repeatedly pledged to dismantle what it describes as entrenched networks of political patronage established during the Orbán era. According to Magyar and Tisza, this effort also extends to public office‑holders appointed during the Fidesz–KDNP constitutional supermajorities, including President Tamás Sulyok.
What is alleged to have happened in Óbuda
In summary, prosecutors allege that from at least 2006 onwards, local Fidesz and MSZP figures in Óbuda co‑ordinated to share proceeds from municipal contracts, with a formalised split that changed after the 2019 local elections but left the underlying mechanism intact. Tender specifications were allegedly tailored to favour a small circle of firms, with contract values inflated by 8–10% to cover kickbacks, and a shell‑like subcontractor (KBT Kft.) funneling a significant share of the work and profits to the politicians involved.
