This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Hungarians are keeping up public pressure on the ruling Fidesz party fueled by an audio recording a longtime insider claims is evidence of rampant corruption among senior prosecutors and members of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government.
Peter Magyar is a former high-ranking official at state-held companies including the Student Loan Center, a major lender, and is among the ruling party’s most senior defectors of the past decade.
Following weeks of public attacks on Orban and his inner circle, Magyar posted a recording on social media on March 26 purportedly of his estranged ex-wife, a former justice minister, acknowledging that government officials persuaded prosecutors to tamper with evidence in a major corruption case.
At a demonstration near Kossuth Lajos Square in downtown Budapest hours later, Magyar said he had shared the recording with investigators and he urged the crowd to demand justice and an investigation into what is known in Hungary as the Schadl-Volner case.
Thousands of people waved Hungarian flags and booed and whistled on cue as Magyar read a prepared statement laying out accusations against senior Fidesz officials he claims have been corrupted by long years in power.
“Jail them! Jail them!” the crowd chanted at one point.
Orban and Fidesz have dominated successive Hungarian elections since 2010 and have used their supermajority to reshape election rules and the judiciary, marginalize independent media, and effectively deny political opponents a significant role in oversight.
Magyar broke publicly with Fidesz after a pardon scandal forced the resignation last month of Hungarian President Katalin Novak and a retreat from political life of Magyar’s estranged former wife, ex-Justice Minister Judit Varga.
Varga, who abandoned plans to lead Fidesz’s candidates in European Parliamentary elections in June, dismissed Magyar’s recording as coerced and a “vile manipulation” in a long-running effort to “blackmail” her. She repeated accusations that Magyar had abused her during their marriage.
Magyar has repeatedly denied mistreating Varga.
Magyar spent several hours in the Prosecutor-General’s Office on March 26 and emerged saying the recording implicates officials in multiple crimes. He also said he has many more recordings relating to the Schadl-Volner case and will continue to share them with investigators.
The long-running Schadl-Volner case involves possible activities by Gyorgy Schadl, head of the chamber of judicial officers, and a former secretary of state at the Justice Ministry, Pal Volner, and reportedly involves wiretaps and classified data.
In a copy of the recording that Magyar posted to YouTube and Facebook, he seemingly prompts Varga into discussing a case before a voice resembling hers says, “They told prosecutors what should be removed.”
“I think they can’t do anything other than to summon several members of the government as witnesses [and], in fact, I say they can’t do without summoning the prime minister as a witness,” Magyar said of prosecutors. “Obviously, [Orban] is aware of much more [wrongdoing] than what my ex-wife and I were aware of.”
Magyar has accused Orban loyalist Antal Rogan, who runs the prime minister’s cabinet office and shapes government messaging, of wielding enormous influence within a corrupt political syndicate.
Fidesz officials have dismissed Magyar’s allegations as unfounded opportunism and harassment of his ex-wife.
Magyar has called for another rally in Budapest on April 6 to push for change in what he hopes is “the biggest demonstration of the last 14 years.”
His call for an anti-government protest to coincide with a national holiday on March 15 attracted an estimated 35,000 people who heard Magyar announce his intention to launch a new political party.
That rally followed major anti-government demonstrations in February over a presidential pardon signed off on by Varga and granted by Novak to a man convicted for helping cover up sexual abuse at a children’s home.
