Orbán's Brother Attempted To Intercept Another Ukrainian Convoy In Austria

His conversation partner refused and reported it to the intelligence agency.

Aron, the younger brother of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, attempted shortly before the election to arrange for Austria to intercept another Ukrainian shipment carrying cash. His contact refused and reported the matter to the intelligence service.

This is reported in an investigation by the Hungarian publication 444. Journalists have published the correspondence between Áron Orban and Lászlóvari-Toma Csongor, a businessman living in Graz, Austria.

Aron Orban wrote to the businessman on March 26, just over two weeks before the parliamentary elections in Hungary. The men had met six years earlier through a mutual acquaintance, but had not been in touch for a long time.

The prime minister’s brother got straight to the point. First, he asked whether Laszlovari-Toma was still involved in politics. In 2021, the businessman ran for the Graz City Council on the Austrian People’s Party ticket but did not win a seat. Orbán then asked how much influence he had in Austria.

Orbán later mentioned that a shipment was passing through Austria and sent a link to a TV report about the detention of a Ukrainian convoy in Hungary. He clarified that this referred to yet another, new convoy, not the one that had been stopped in early March.

After that, a direct question was asked: Could the Austrians intercept it? According to 444, Orbán also suggested putting the businessman in touch with someone who knew exactly when and where the vehicle would be located in Austria.

Lászlovári-Toma declined to participate in this scheme. He notified the Austrian intelligence services and the leadership of the Austrian People’s Party about the correspondence. The businessman also showed the message to attorney Lorant Horvath, who represents the interests of the Ukrainian cash-in-transit company.

According to the businessman, Aron Orban had previously approached him with dubious proposals, specifically regarding the purchase of military equipment. His company operates in the arms trade, but he had refused such offers.

In 444, it was verified that the phone number from which the messages were sent does indeed belong to Aron Orban. Neither he nor Viktor Orban responded to questions from journalists.

The “golden convoy” scandal erupted on the night of March 6. The Hungarian counterterrorism unit TEK intercepted two armored vehicles belonging to Oschadbank on the M5 highway; the vehicles were transporting $40 million, 35 million euros, and 9 kg of gold from Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank to Kyiv.

Seven cash transporters were questioned and deported, while Budapest retained the valuables, citing suspicions of money laundering. Representatives of Orbán’s party hinted that the funds might have been intended for the opposition Tisza Party.

On March 12, Hungary returned the armored vehicles, some of whose equipment had been damaged.

In August, the Hungarian Tax and Customs Administration closed the criminal case against the cash-in-transit company due to lack of evidence of a crime.

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