Hungarian government approves confiscation of currency and valuables from Oschadbank

The Hungarian government adopted a resolution on the evening of Monday 9 March, already signed by Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, ordering the seizure of currency and valuables from Oschadbank cash-in-transit vehicles, attempting to create a legal basis for its actions.

The resolution directly stated that it concerned the episode involving the attack by a Hungarian special service on a Ukrainian cash-in-transit convoy.

The document is titled "On necessary measures in connection with the unusually large amount of cash and gold bars transported through Hungary in order to protect the national security interests of the state".

In the resolution, Orbán's government stated that €35 million and US$40 million in cash had been seized from Oschadbank vehicles, as well as nine gold bars weighing one kilogram each.

The government also argued that the purpose and intended use of the unusually large amount of cash and gold, as well as the legal grounds for transporting them through Hungary, had not been clarified during the inspection and that the transport had not been carried out in accordance with normal international practice.

Ukrainian authorities and European bankers have publicly refuted this claim by the Hungarian government, explaining that after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, ground transportation of cash became the only possible option for Ukraine and therefore such transfers take place regularly and are not unusual.

However, Orbán's government said in its decision that the method of transporting the assets and the individuals carrying out the transport had created risks to national security, and it referred to cash transfers by Ukrainian banks over the previous four years as an argument supposedly reinforcing threats to Hungary.

The adopted resolution said that its aim was to determine, among other things, the identities of the guards and their possible links to criminal or terrorist organisations, as well as the consequences of the transport operation for Hungary's national security. It also stated that it was important to determine whether any part of the assets had been used within Hungary and, if so, to whom they had been transferred and for what purpose, as well as what impact this had on Hungary's national security.

In recent days, the Hungarian government has also launched a campaign claiming that the funds, despite the existing documentation, were intended to finance the Hungarian opposition.

Without presenting any arguments to support these claims, the government ordered that the seized assets be considered confiscated and handled accordingly during the investigation by the National Tax and Customs Administration, which would take place within 60 days after the resolution entered into force.

On Monday 9 March, Hungary's ruling party Fidesz submitted a draft law intended to prepare the ground for the long-term seizure of the confiscated Oschadbank valuables.

According to European Pravda, the government adopted the resolution on Monday 9 March after it became clear that passing the above-mentioned law would take longer than expected. However, the adoption of a separate law on the seizure of the Ukrainian state bank's confiscated property remains on the agenda.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that such steps by Hungary only confirmed the illegality of the initial actions. The Hungarian ambassador was also summoned to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry over the treatment of the detained cash-in-transit guards.

Earlier this week, one of the key ministers in Orbán's government effectively acknowledged that the incident with the cash-in-transit guards had been a response to Ukraine's alleged blocking of the Druzhba oil pipeline.