On November 9, Áron Orbán, the younger brother of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, was detained in Hungary. The detention took place as part of a human trafficking investigation, during which law enforcement officers carried out searches in Budapest and Pest County.
The police operation was reported by Telex.
“Viktor Orbán has confirmed that investigators detained his younger brother, Áron Orbán. The former prime minister, as is his habit, immediately began pointing the finger at others and, like a ‘brave’ street fighter, quickly portrayed himself as the victim,” Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar wrote on Facebook.
On the morning of November 9, officers from the Counterterrorism Center arrived at a property in Fótliget linked to a company owned by Áron Orbán.
Anna Unger, head of the National Office for Asset Recovery and Protection (NVVH), initially neither confirmed nor denied reports of the operation. However, she said the agency had carried out additional investigative activities in a case involving the former prime minister’s brother.
Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation said law enforcement officers, working alongside the NVVH, were conducting investigative activities in two criminal proceedings. Several people were detained in Budapest and two locations in Pest County, while searches were carried out at the suspects’ homes.
The NVVH later confirmed to the state news agency MTI that several people had been detained in connection with a human trafficking case.
Telex journalists began investigating the activities of Áron Orbán and his business partners in 2025, following the leak of an audio recording of his conversation with Dávid Héjj, an official in the office of then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The recording indicated that Áron Orbán and his partners were involved in obtaining visas for foreign workers, but Hungarian authorities had blocked some applications. As a result, Orbán’s associates faced demands for refunds. One of those affected filed a complaint with law enforcement authorities and provided evidence, but later died unexpectedly.
After the April 2026 elections, two suspects were detained in connection with the case, one of whom was later released. A Vietnamese interpreter who was familiar with those involved in the visa business and had met Áron Orbán twice also gave testimony to investigators.
Viktor Orbán himself responded to the police operation in a social media post, describing the actions of law enforcement as political persecution.
“What is happening in Hungary is not accountability, but settling scores. Whenever things become uncomfortable for the government, the ÁVH steps in. In this dirty game, the goal is to eliminate political opponents and establish a one-party system. I am the target here; my brother is merely a means to an end,” the former prime minister said.
