The Central Investigation Department of the Criminal Directorate of the National Tax and Customs Administration announced that Oscsadbank’s armored vehicles will be released tomorrow at 10 a.m., informed Lóránt Horváth, a lawyer entrusted with the legal representation of the Ukrainian financial institution. He also informed:
according to the investigation authority, the vehicles were not impounded, so no decision was made either on the impoundment or on its termination.
According to the lawyer’s assumption, the vehicles seized on March 5 and the transported funds were in the possession of the Hungarian state bodies without a legal basis until the government decree on the subject came into effect on March 9, i.e. for 4 days and 8 hours.
As a reminder, the authorities stopped two Ukrainian money carriers passing through Hungary last week, citing suspicion of money laundering by NAV as the reason. But the tax authority admitted that with the seized vehicles
40 million dollars, 35 million euros and nine kilograms of gold were delivered to Ukraine from Austria as planned.
So far, the authorities have not given an explanation as to why money laundering was suspected. The suspicion is also weakened by the fact that although the seven Ukrainian men accompanying the shipment were arrested, they were expelled from Hungary without waiting for the outcome of the proceedings.
https://hvg.hu/itthon/20260310_egy-nap-alatt-atverte-a-fidesz-a-lex-penzszallito-torvenyt-az-ukran-es-tisza-ellenes-kampany-jegyebem
In the meantime, the Orbán government makes no secret of the fact that the money that has not been returned can be a potential blackmail against Ukraine, for example in the case of the Friendship oil pipeline.
We didn’t do what we did by accident
– said János Lázár on Monday in Gödöllő, touching on the topic.
In fact, he was even more specific when he added: the length of the investigation also depends on the opening of the Bárátság oil pipeline. “We don’t really know who sent this horse and why. What we do know is that the Ukrainians are very upset,” he said. He also noted:
the seizure of the money carriers was obviously not an independent step from the suspension of the transportation on the Friendship oil pipeline, because they cannot let them be blackmailed.
We also wrote earlier that for years the cash logistics company Criterion, which is owned by István Garancsi, transported between the Hungarian and Ukrainian borders the money that was sent from an Austrian financial institution to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war in 2022:
https://hvg.hu/itthon/20260310_criterion-garancsi-penzszallitas-ausztria-ukrajna
Our opening picture shows a part of the seized money. Photo: Facebook / Government of Hungary
