Hungary’s overpriced Covid ventilators: Szijjártó scandal becomes first big test for Tisza’s anti‑corruption drive (Day 107 of the Tisza government)
The probe into Hungary’s wildly-overpriced ventilator deals risks becoming a litmus test for whether the new Tisza government is truly ready to confront the Orbán-era system that siphoned off billions — and to face the geopolitical fallout of challenging a former foreign minister.
More than nine months ago, we launched our Hungary Decides series , in which we provided weekly summaries of news from Hungary’s election campaign.
The series continued, covering developments following the historic election and the steps taken by the Tisza government.
Foreign minister Anita Orbán filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor general’s office on suspicion of misappropriation, causing particularly significant financial loss and other criminal offences, in connection with public procurements carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (KKM), then headed by Péter Szijjártó, as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Under Szijjártó’s leadership, the purchases made in March and April 2020 were exempted from the rules governing public procurement procedures.
The ministry consequently purchased ventilators, protective equipment, PCR tests and medicines. A total of 19,002 ventilators were procured because of the pandemic, of which 16,853 were purchased by Szijjártó’s ministry for approximately 300 billion forints, around €845m at the exchange rate prevailing at the time, roughly 355 forints to the euro.
According to the current internal investigation, serious problems arose during the procurements concerning the quantity, price, usability and financial rationale of the purchases. Anita Orbán said that the findings to date raised suspicions of misappropriation causing particularly significant financial loss and other criminal offences, as well as the responsibility of the ministry’s former senior leadership.
Szilárd Sánta graduated in Hungarian and English studies from the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia. He was a lecturer at János Selye University in Komárno for 15 years. From 2018, he edited the public affairs and cultural supplement Szalon of the daily newspaper Új Szó, as well as the newspaper’s magazines. Since May 2022, he has been an editor at Napunk.
