Hungary’s Parliament has lifted the immunity of Prime Minister Peter Magyar and two former ministers from Viktor Orban’s government, allowing prosecutors to pursue criminal investigations against them. The vote occurred on Monday after Magyar requested the removal of his immunity to address allegations of theft, which he described as a case of "character assassination." The investigations into the former ministers, Balazs Hanko and Miklos Sesztak, involve accusations of embezzlement and bribery, marking the first corruption probes against high-ranking officials from Orban’s administration during his 16 years in power.
Legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor of lifting the immunity, despite the boycott of the session by Orban’s Fidesz party and its ally, KDNP. The vote followed a request from prosecutors to investigate Magyar, Hanko, and Sesztak. Magyar is under investigation for an incident at a Budapest nightclub in June 2024, where he allegedly took a mobile phone from a man filming him and threw it into the Danube River. He has labeled the case a "sham" and accused prosecutors of attempting to link his case with those of the former ministers as part of a political character assassination effort.
Hanko, a member of Orban’s Fidesz party, is accused of embezzling over 40 million euros (approximately $46 million) in public funds, allegedly to finance the 2026 parliamentary election campaign and for personal gain. Sesztak, a lawmaker from KDNP, is being investigated for allegedly accepting more than $37.2 million in bribes and kickbacks related to vehicle procurements by Hungary’s state bus company and state construction projects.
These developments come less than six months after Magyar’s Tisza party won a landslide election victory, ending Orban’s long tenure. Magyar had campaigned on promises to combat corruption, restore rule-of-law safeguards, and improve Hungary’s relationship with the European Union. His government has since prioritized addressing alleged corruption and overpriced public procurement, including plans for a new asset-recovery office targeting misconduct from the Orban era.