Hungary appoints Péter Fejes as new top prosecutor to head anti-graft drive after Orbán downfall

Hungarian lawmakers elected a new prosecutor general on Tuesday as part of Prime Minister Péter Magyar's push to hold nationalist ex-leader Viktor Orbán and his allies accountable over alleged corruption. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Parliament confirmed Péter Fejes, a recently retired career prosecutor for the top post, as investigations into high-level graft gather pace in the central European country. Three ex-ministers are in custody, including a former central bank governor, whom Orbán once called his "right-hand" man. In a secret ballot, Fejes got 139 votes in favour and six against in the 199-member legislature, where Magyar's Tisza party holds more than two-thirds of seats. Orbán's Fidesz party and its ally KDNP boycotted the vote. "On behalf of all Hungarians, I wish you every success in your work. Tremble, burglars! And all other criminals too," Magyar said in a post on Facebook, shortly after Fejes took an oath of office in parliament for the nine-year term. Lost trust Public confidence in prosecutors eroded under Orbán's 16-year rule, as critics accused the highly centralised institution of shielding the premier's inner circle from scrutiny. Fejes, 65, has said that he wants to regain lost trust in the prosecutor's office, including by placing the emphasis of legal work on "being free from politics". In parliament after his election, Fejes apologised for "certain decisions taken by the Public Prosecutor's Office in recent times, or its failure to act, which have justifiably and reasonably offended the public's sense of justice". Last month, parliament rejected President András Baka's first nominee for prosecutor-general after reports revealed that his brother was linked to the so-called "golden convoy" case. Ahead of a parliamentary election in April, which Orbán lost to Magyar, Hungarian security forces stopped vehicles for a Ukrainian state-owned bank transiting the country. They detained seven employees and seized millions of dollars, euros and gold bars. Hungary's tax authority said it had acted in a money-laundering probe, but the detainees were quickly released and the assets returned. The original case was eventually closed. A separate inquiry was opened into alleged rights violations during the operation. In June, the lead prosecutor investigating that case, Pal Furcht, stepped down, later alleging his superiors had obstructed his probe and that evidence pointed to Orbán ordering the operation. Lawyer Loránt Horváth, who represents both Furcht and the detained bank employees, said he hoped Fejes would look into the matter. "Our biggest concern is that the prosecutor-general's office played an active role" in the operation, he told the AFP news agency. Former top prosecutor Gábor Bálint Nagy resigned in July after facing pressure from Magyar, who has promised "regime change" and pushed to get rid of top officials appointed under Orbán. Ex-ministers probed Other investigations have gained momentum since Orbán lost power. Ex-central bank governor György Matolcsy, a former economy minister, was arrested last month over "economic fraud causing particularly significant financial loss", and an international arrest warrant was issued against his son, Adam, a suspected accomplice. Two other former ministers have been in custody since September over alleged graft, thought to have caused millions of dollars of losses in public funds. Orbán denounced the latter two probes as "politically motivated" actions aimed at imprisoning him and destroying his party. Prosecutors have so far touched "only the bare minimum", lawyer Horváth said. The country's new top anti-graft official, Anna Unger, has warned that securing convictions could take years. A government website lists over 60 cases referred to investigators, involving billions of euros in taxpayers' money, with fresh cases added regularly.