🇭🇺Week of October 19

Hungarian police detained Matolcsy György, former governor of the Hungarian National Bank, and searched his home in a probe connected to the central bank, seizing several items. The prosecution service spoke publicly about the MNB case after the detention. A court will decide on October 23 at nine in the morning whether Matolcsy is to be held in arrest.123

The ruling falls on the anniversary of the 1956 revolution. Matolcsy's son, Matolcsy Ádám, has not turned himself in, and his failure to do so worsens not only his own position but also his father's, according to Forbes Magyarország.34

Lawyer Bárándy Gergely said Matolcsy could face as much as twenty years in prison, a term Economx described as a very long lock-up for the former central bank chief.5

Former chief prosecutor Fürcht Pál told a parliamentary committee investigating enforcement proceedings that his superior, General Tomin Szilvia, passed on an order from above that nothing could come of the Völner-Schadl case. He said the instruction was that the preparatory proceedings concerning Völner had to be closed, and described it as coming from his superiors rather than from inside the prosecution service.123

Fürcht also said the idea of involving then-justice minister Varga Judit as a secret cooperating party had come up during the proceedings. In his testimony he named a surname, and the committee session was described as a historic hearing for the former chief prosecutor.432

Toroczkai said he will have General Tomin summoned to the committee over the political-pressure warning she is said to have given Fürcht, and the Völner-Schadl case is again under scrutiny.156

Attributed claim: Világgazdaság, a pro-government outlet, reported that Fürcht refuted almost all of Magyar Péter's claims: Varga Judit knew nothing about the Völner case, and Rogán and his circle did not visit the prosecutor's office, according to the former chief prosecutor. Klubrádió, an oppositional outlet, carried Hegedűs's argument that Fürcht's account of Tomin Szilvia does not hold up.78

Police detained Matolcsy György, the former governor of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), and searched his home in a probe connected to the central bank. Several items were seized at the former central bank chief's property. The operation was described as a raid in the MNB case.123

Matolcsy does not intend to make a confession, according to reports on the search. Magyar Péter commented on the detention, saying that "Orbán Viktor's former minister has been taken into custody."456

The spokesman for Orbán Viktor and Fidesz also responded to the detention of Matolcsy György.7

One commentary described Matolcsy's fall in terms of the lost character of public funds and what it called "the biggest bank robbery."8

Hungary shut down the government portal magyarorszag.hu and several other government websites for 48 hours because of a severe IT security risk, and administrative services were suspended while the sites were down. The shutdown followed the disclosure of two extremely serious vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language, for which emergency patches have since become available.1234

Tanács Zoltán warned of a danger on a global scale from the flaws, saying the vulnerabilities are extremely serious and that attacks began immediately after disclosure. Most websites are affected by the fault, and sites remained at risk even after the first countermeasures.5678

The flaw was found with the help of artificial intelligence, and the resulting attacks prompted the takedown of government sites.9

Coverage of the incident ran across outlets of both camps without a factual split: pro-government Portfolio.hu and Forbes Magyarország reported the global warning and the suspended services, while oppositional Telex, 24.hu and Index.hu reported the same shutdown and the severity of the vulnerabilities.53627

Hungary's unemployment rate stopped rising in September, but the number of people who remain without work for long periods continued to grow, according to the latest KSH figures. The labour market data show employment falling and unemployment rising over recent months.123

The figures point to a labour market that is not functioning normally, with jobseekers needing up to 12 months to find work at home. Analysts also note that many open positions remain unfilled while large numbers of jobseekers are effectively shut out of the market.34

Women and young people are bearing the cost of the deterioration, one account of the KSH data states.5

Attributed claim: The September figures are contested between outlets. Telex reported that employment rose in September, while hvg.hu and Világgazdaság reported that the number of employed fell and unemployment climbed over recent months; Telex's G7 also asked how unemployment can rise when more people are working.627

Attributed claim: Political blame for the jobless figures is also disputed. Portfolio.hu asked whether the Tisza or Fidesz is responsible for unemployment and promised a surprising answer, while Mfor.hu focused on people who lost jobs because of the elections and whether they have since found new work.8910