Prime Minister Peter Magyar addressed an extraordinary session of the National Assembly on October 2, 2026, outlining the new Hungarian government's commitment to investigate corruption under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, recover embezzled assets, and hold those responsible accountable. Magyar referred to the need to 'liquidate Orban's mafia state' and had previously announced a 'program for the road to prison' during his election campaign. He launched 'Operation Purgatory' at the end of June 2026. However, progress has been limited, with no significant purges of the state apparatus, although some government funds directed to Orban-aligned businessmen have been cut. Police and prosecutors have summoned a few lesser-known individuals for questioning, and some arrests have occurred. A new agency to recover assets has been established but is not yet operational.
Recently, two prominent lawmakers and former ministers were arrested on corruption allegations. Magyar's Tisza Party parliamentary faction used its two-thirds majority to lift the immunity of Balazs Hanko, a former minister for culture and innovation from Orban's Fidesz party, and Miklos Sesztak, a former development minister and current lawmaker for the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP), which has been affiliated with Fidesz since 2010. Both are under investigation for corruption.
Hanko is accused of unlawfully allocating approximately 50 million euros from the National Cultural Fund for election campaign purposes during his tenure. In contrast, Sesztak, one of Hungary's wealthiest lawmakers, allegedly accepted around €30 million in bribes related to contracts with the state-owned bus company Volanbusz and the construction sector between 2015 and 2018. After his immunity was lifted, Sesztak went directly to the prosecutor's office and was taken into pretrial detention. Hanko, however, barricaded himself in Parliament with his family before eventually leaving after receiving a summons.
Prime Minister Magyar's own immunity was also lifted that day over a separate case classified as theft, where he threw a phone into the Danube River after it was used to film him without permission. He requested the immunity lift to demonstrate equal accountability. In his parliamentary speech, he compared the scale of alleged corruption within the Fidesz-KDNP party to his own actions.
Magyar has criticized the leadership of the prosecutor's office, accusing them of covering up corruption cases and expressing dissatisfaction with the appointment of a new prosecutor general. The Tisza faction rejected the candidate proposed by President Andras Baka due to a conflict of interest involving an ongoing politically sensitive case.