Aron Orban, the younger brother of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, contacted an acquaintance in Austria in late March to ask whether another Ukrainian shipment could be intercepted. The businessman refused to take part and reported the correspondence to Austrian security services.
This was reported by Hungarian outlet 444.
On March 26, just over two weeks before Hungary’s parliamentary election, Aron Orban wrote to Hungarian businessman Csongor Laszlovari-Toma, who lives in Graz. The two had not been in contact for several years.
Orban first asked whether his acquaintance was still involved in politics and how much influence he had in Austria. Laszlovari-Toma had previously run for a seat on the Graz city council on the Austrian People’s Party ticket but did not win a mandate.
Aron Orban then wrote that a “shipment” was passing through Austria and sent a link to a report by Hungarian broadcaster ATV about the earlier detention of Ukrainian cash-in-transit officers in March. He clarified that this was a new shipment and then asked: “Can you intercept it?”
According to 444, Orban also offered to put Laszlovari-Toma in touch with a person who allegedly knew when and where the vehicle carrying the shipment would be in Austria. The businessman refused and informed Austrian security services and the leadership of the Austrian People’s Party about the correspondence.
Laszlovari-Toma also showed the messages to lawyer Lorant Horvath, who represents the Ukrainian cash-in-transit officers. According to the businessman, Aron Orban had previously approached him with other proposals, including one involving the purchase of military equipment, but he had rejected them.
Journalists at 444 established that the number from which the messages were sent belonged to Aron Orban. Neither Aron Orban nor his brother responded to the outlet’s questions.
Earlier, on March 5, Hungary’s Counter Terrorism Centre stopped two armored cash-in-transit vehicles travelling from Vienna through Hungary to Ukraine and carrying cash and gold. Aron Orban referred to that incident in the correspondence but said that this time he was talking about a different shipment.
Detention of Oschadbank cash-in-transit officers in Hungary: details
On the night of March 6, Hungarian authorities detained seven Oschadbank employees who were carrying out a cash-in-transit run from Austria and transporting valuables. The vehicles were in central Budapest near a building used by one of Hungary’s security agencies.
Oschadbank said the shipment was being carried out under an international agreement with Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank and had been processed in accordance with international transport rules and European customs procedures. The vehicles were carrying $40 million, €35 million and 9 kg of gold.
Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration later confirmed the detention of seven Ukrainians on suspicion of “money laundering”.
On the evening of March 6, all seven cash-in-transit officers were released and returned to Ukraine. The cash and gold remained in Hungary.
The detained cash-in-transit vehicles were returned to Ukraine on March 12.
On May 6, the Hungarian side returned Oschadbank’s money and other valuables to Ukraine. On May 18, Hungary’s immigration authority revoked the deportation orders and three-year bans on entering the Schengen Area for all seven bank employees, and on August 19 Hungarian law enforcement closed the case against the Oschadbank cash-in-transit officers.
