Public money from Mészáros companies bankrolled Orbán-era propaganda, investigation reveals
An investigation by Direkt36 has uncovered how public procurement funds channelled into companies owned by Hungarian billionaire Lőrinc Mészáros were used to finance a network of pro-government influencers during Viktor Orbán’s tenure. Internal documents from V-Híd, a railway construction firm in Mészáros’s portfolio, show that between 2022 and 2026 the company paid several billion forints to influencers linked to the Megafon network, which served as a key communication channel for Fidesz. The revelations come as Hungary’s new Tisza administration, elected in a historic vote that removed Orbán’s Fidesz government, continues to examine the financial practices of the previous regime.
V-Híd, one of the most profitable companies in the Mészáros empire, owed its success almost entirely to large public procurement contracts awarded under Fidesz governments. In recent years it became the dominant player in Hungarian railway construction, pushing out competitors and generating enormous dividends for the Mészáros clan. According to leaked donation contracts, V-Híd regularly sent hundreds of millions of forints as “gifts” to Megafon, with 3 billion forints (approximately €7.6 million) provided to the influencer network in 2024 alone. The pattern was straightforward: public contracts stuffed Mészáros group companies with public money, and part of that revenue was then channelled to the propaganda machine.
Luxury spending and private jets
Direkt36 also documented lavish perks for V-Híd employees and associates. In 2024, nine V-Híd employees travelled by private jet to a château in south-western France, a trip costing 62 million forints (around €150,000), including €500 spent on cigars. In total, V-Híd spent more than 1 billion forints (about €2.5 million) on foreign trips in recent years, including a payment of €46,000 for a trip to Tajikistan, a popular destination for exotic hunting excursions in which Mészáros himself has taken part. The Mészáros clan has shown a keen interest in yachting and private jets, and one private jet linked to the family was used at least once by Orbán himself.
Arrest of culture minister and Orbán’s response
Separately, Fidesz has been thrown into turmoil by the arrest of former culture minister Balázs Hankó, who is suspected of aggravated breach of fiduciary duty causing particularly significant financial loss, committed in a criminal conspiracy. A court placed Hankó in pre-trial detention after an investigation revealed that the National Cultural Fund disbursed more than 17 billion forints (approximately €44 million) to artists close to Fidesz for party campaign purposes. Hankó has denied wrongdoing, claiming the grants were lawful and that he is the victim of a politically motivated show trial. Shortly before his custody, he told the Fidesz-friendly channel HírTV that being a Fidesz member or linked to Fidesz was never a precondition for receiving funding from the National Cultural Fund.
Viktor Orbán offered a different explanation in a speech at a closed-door event, a clip of which was shared by former state secretary Péter Takács. According to Orbán, Hankó is the only culture minister since 2010 who did not give support to “liberals in Budapest,” and that is why he was locked up. The Hankó case blew up shortly after the elections that brought the Tisza government to power, and it has intensified scrutiny of the previous administration’s use of public funds for political purposes. Direkt36’s findings are part of a new series of articles based on internal documents, and they mark the 150th day since the Tisza government took office. The revelations underscore the scale of the propaganda financing that operated during the Orbán era, with public money flowing through Mészáros companies to media influencers who amplified Fidesz messages through extensive online advertising.
