Prosecutors intervene in the new corruption scandal rocking the Budapest government. The former minister of justice was interviewed

Hungarian prosecutors launched an investigation after Peter Magyar, a former close associate of Viktor Orban’s government, released an audio recording he claims is evidence that aides to the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff tried to intervene in a case of corruption, according to Reuters. The former minister of justice, Judit Varga, who was married to the whistleblower, has already been heard in the case, the chief prosecutor said on Thursday.

Peter Magyar, 43 years old, is a former lawyer close to the government, being married to Judit Varga when she was Minister of Justice, notes News.ro.

Magyar, who has since become a critic of the government and plans to launch his own party to challenge Prime Minister Viktor Orban, released on Tuesday a recording of an older conversation he had with his ex-wife in which she detailed a alleged attempt by some advisors of Orban’s chief of staff to modify documents in the respective corruption case.

Chief prosecutor Pal Furcht said Magyar’s audio recording, presented as part of his witness statement, was being reviewed and an investigation into possible “failure to report a bribe” was underway.

He specified that Judit Varga was also interviewed on Wednesday. Furcht said another witness was interviewed Thursday, but declined to name him or provide details about Varga’s statements.

Thousands of people called for Orban’s resignation

Asked if Orban’s chief of staff, Antal Rogan, would also be questioned, Furcht said he could not reveal any names because the investigation was ongoing.

Thousands of people protested near the Parliament in Budapest on Tuesday, demanding Orban’s resignation, after Magyar published the audio recording on his Facebook page.

The corruption case has in the foreground the former secretary of state in the Ministry of Justice, Pal Volner, who was accused in 2022 of accepting a bribe from the former chief of bailiffs, Gyorgy Schadl. Both pleaded “not guilty”. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms for the two.

The investigation comes at a politically sensitive time for Orban ahead of June’s European parliamentary elections and follows a scandal over a pardon in a sexual abuse case that last month led to the downfall of two of his main political allies – former president Katalin Novak, and Judit Varga, Magyar’s ex-wife.

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

In 2009, Viktor Orban came to power after another compromising audio recording led to the fall of the socialist government then led by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.

Judit Varga did not dispute the authenticity of the audio recording

Judit Varga could not be reached for comment earlier this week. But in a post on her Facebook page, apparently critical of her ex-husband, she did not dispute the authenticity of the recording.

On the other hand, according to MTI, she gave an interview published on YouTube, in which she accused her ex-husband – with whom she has three children – of marital abuse and claimed that he was blackmailing her.

Péter Magyar threw the trash cans in front of Judit Varga’s car, sat on the back seat of the car he wanted to drive away, took her bag, locked her in a room, walked around the apartment with a knife, claimed Judit Varga in an interview with Péter Hajdú, on Frizbi TV, published on YouTube on Wednesday.

The former Minister of Justice also stated that, when Péter Magyar could no longer pressure her to behave as he wanted, he tried to threaten her.

She stated that the audio recording, made public on Tuesday by Péter Magyar, was not made by her ex-husband for political purposes or to protect her, as he was constantly blackmailing her with the recording.

Judit Varga says that Peter Magyar was blackmailing her

Péter Magyar was blackmailing her that if she dares to divorce him, he will denounce her, and if she makes public moments of their marriage, she will have problems, revealed the former minister of justice.

Judit Varga emphasized that the situation is terribly humiliating for her, because she considers herself a serious person, a lawyer, speaks foreign languages, is proud to have represented Hungary in the debates in Brussels, always tried to stay away from the tabloids and did not wanted to present to people his private life, his “personal hell”.

She emphasized that she undertook this interview to protect the integrity of her family and to tell her truth.