Hungarian Minister Admits Detention of Ukrainian Tax Collectors Was Deliberate
Фото: Ощадбанк
Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport Janos Lazar stated that the seizure of the money was not accidental, this step was taken due to the blockage of the Druzhba oil pipeline, and that the seized gold, dollars, and euros will not be returned to the Ukrainians until the oil starts flowing.
This is reported by the Hungarian publication Telex.
“We didn’t do what we did by accident, we won’t return the money to them… The money will stay here for now, we are waiting for the opening of the oil pipeline and new Ukrainian cash deliveries through Hungary,” he said.
The minister also expressed surprise at the way the funds were transported. According to him, it is unclear why the money was transported in the form of a large amount of cash and even gold bars. At the same time, he acknowledged that the dollar can remain an important financial instrument during times of war and economic instability.
In addition, Lazar noted that in his opinion, there are many unresolved issues in this case – in particular, regarding the origin of the funds and the organization of their transportation.
According to him, this concerns, in particular, financial transactions between the Raiffeisen Bank International banking group and the Ukrainian state bank Oschadbank, which could have been carried out several times after the start of a full-scale war.
The Hungarian side, the minister added, is considering various risks, including possible money laundering, financing of organized crime or political activity.
“The longer it takes to restore the pipeline, the more thorough the investigation needs to be,” he concluded.
As a reminder, Foreign Minister Andriy Szybiga stated that Hungarian authorities in Budapest detained seven Ukrainian citizens — employees of Oschadbank — and seized the money they were transporting.
Subsequently, seven Oschadbank collectors who were detained in Hungary were returned to Ukraine.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine is working to return the cargo from the collection vehicles that were detained by the Hungarian authorities.
It should be noted that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stated that Budapest demands explanations from Ukraine regarding the transportation of significant amounts of cash and gold through Hungarian territory.
By the way, the head of the Hungarian Fidesz faction, Mate Kocsis, is proposing to seize the money and gold seized from the Ukrainian Oschadbank last week.
Also follow “Pryamim” on Facebook , X , Telegram , and Instagram.