Hungarian police on Monday took the younger brother of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, one of President Donald Trump’s closest European allies, into custody in a human trafficking and influence peddling investigation, The Associated Press reported.
Áron Orbán, 49, was among four people detained. Police said they made arrests and searched homes at four locations in and around Budapest. They called in Hungary’s Counter-Terrorism Center because they expected firearms at two of the scenes.
Investigators allege the group used political connections to secure fast-track Hungarian residence permits for more than 100 Vietnamese nationals in 2024, most of whom planned to move on to Western Europe. Police said all four are suspected of “human trafficking committed in a criminal conspiracy for financial gain.”
Police did not name the suspects. But Viktor Orbán, who remains president of his far-right Fidesz party, confirmed his brother’s detention on Facebook and cast it as political revenge.
“I am the target; my younger brother is just a means to an end,” Orbán wrote. “What is happening in Hungary is not accountability but a settling of scores. … In this dirty game, the aim is to eliminate political opponents and establish a one-party system.”
Fidesz added Áron Orbán to a list of “political prisoners” on its website Monday.
The detention is part of a sweeping crackdown by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose center-right Tisza party ended Orbán’s 16 years in power in April. Tisza won 141 of 199 parliamentary seats on nearly 80 percent turnout. Magyar has branded the effort “Operation Cleansing Fire.”
Other figures from the Orbán era have also landed in custody. In October, police detained former central bank governor György Matolcsy, one of Orbán’s closest economic allies, on suspicion of fraud involving a foundation set up in 2014 and endowed with some $818 million in public assets. He has denied wrongdoing. In September, police detained two former ministers. One is suspected of mismanaging 17.3 billion forints ($53.6 million) in public funds, and the other of taking more than 12 billion forints ($37.2 million) in bribes and kickbacks.
Trump endorsed Orbán days before the April vote. Vice President JD Vance joined him at a rally in Budapest, and the defeat that followed left MAGA figures dismayed. Last November, Trump hosted Orbán for a White House lunch, repeatedly praising him as a great leader and calling him a friend.
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