Hungary's incoming prime minister, Péter Magyar, has accused oligarchs connected to outgoing leader Viktor Orbán of transferring tens of billions of forints to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uruguay and other countries, in what he describes as a coordinated effort to shield wealth from accountability before his government takes power on 9 May.

In posts on social media over the weekend, Magyar said Hungary's National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) had already suspended several high-value transfers linked to the circle of Antal Rogán — minister of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office and a central figure in the outgoing government's communications and intelligence apparatus — on suspicion of money laundering. Magyar demanded that NAV immediately freeze the funds and called on the prosecutor general and national police chief to "detain the criminals who have caused thousands of billions of forints in damage to the Hungarian people." He emphasised that the transfers were being directed to jurisdictions "from which extradition is currently not possible" — a characterisation that in Uruguay's case refers to the absence of a bilateral extradition treaty with Hungary, though both countries are party to multilateral anti-money-laundering conventions.

Magyar also named the family of Lőrinc Mészáros — a childhood friend of Orbán whose trajectory from gas fitter to Hungary's wealthiest individual was accelerated by an expanding share of public procurement contracts — as among those preparing to leave. "Several influential oligarch families have already pulled their children out of school and are arranging trusted security personnel for their departure," he said. He further alleged that media assets, including broadcaster TV2 and Lounge Event Kft., a company linked to Rogán, were being sold at below-market prices, and warned domestic and international investors to avoid acquiring assets "linked to the mafia" or face future action from a planned National Office for Asset Recovery and Protection. Reports from Hungarian investigative outlet VSquare and international broadcasters have documented the use of private jets to move cash and valuables to the Middle East, with funds also flowing toward Singapore, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.

The accusations arrive in an extraordinary political moment for Hungary, a landlocked Central European country of around ten million people that has been governed by Orbán and his Fidesz party since 2010. On 12 April, Magyar's opposition Tisza party won a landslide election, securing 141 of 199 seats in the National Assembly — a two-thirds supermajority that will allow the incoming government to pursue the constitutional and judicial reforms Magyar has described as central priorities. Orbán announced on Saturday that he would not take up his parliamentary seat, a decision that strips him of the immunity the position would have conferred. He said he intends to remain as Fidesz leader to oversee a process of "renewal."

The outgoing government has denied the most serious accusations. The foreign ministry, one of several institutions Magyar has accused of destroying documents ahead of the transition, said it had "only discarded the previously printed, redundant paper versions of documents that had been stored electronically." Orbán's office did not respond to requests for comment. The wider stakes extend beyond Hungary's borders: analysts note that years of lobbying by Orbán's government built deep ties within the American conservative movement, and some figures connected to Fidesz are reportedly exploring US work visas, hoping to find positions at institutions linked to the Republican Party. Magyar, for his part, has said the scale of the challenge ahead is immense: "Our country has been plundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined," he told reporters after the election.