Hungary files complaint over USD 965 million COVID ventilator deal

Hungary's foreign ministry has moved prosecutors over its pandemic ventilator purchase from China. The complaint sharpens scrutiny of suspected financial wrongdoing, deleted records and costly unused equipment.Image used for representational purposes onlyHungary's foreign ministry has filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors over what it said was possible fraud in the previous government's purchase of ventilators worth about USD 965 million during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign Minister Anita Orban said on Tuesday that a ministry investigation into the deal had raised serious questions about how the procurement was handled.The previous government led by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban bought around 17,000 ventilators from China in March and April 2020. The purchase had drawn criticism at the time over the large number of units bought and the price paid per unit compared with other European countries.In a video posted on Facebook, Anita Orban, who is not related to the former prime minister, said the findings of the ministry's investigation "raises suspicions of breach of fiduciary duty causing particularly substantial financial loss and other criminal offenses". She did not give specific allegations, but said the inquiry involved tens of thousands of documents, some of which had to be recovered using digital tools "after unsuccessful attempts to delete them".She also said the findings raised further questions "about the responsibility of the ministry's former senior leadership". A statement published on the Hungarian government's website on Tuesday referred to other suspected irregularities in the ventilator purchase, saying most of the units were bought through intermediary companies whose revenues rose sharply because of the transaction. The statement also said some of the ventilators were defective and that a significant proportion was never deployed. It added that storage costs for the unused devices ran into millions of dollars.Hungary's former foreign minister Peter Szijjarto, who built close ties with China during nearly 12 years in office, oversaw the ventilator purchase as well as the procurement of 5 million doses of the China-made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Last month, he resigned from Parliament to take an executive role at Chinese carmaker BYD, leading to accusations of a conflict of interest because of his role in facilitating substantial government subsidies for the company while in office. Hungary's government later launched an investigation into large investments made by BYD in the country during his tenure. In summary, Hungary's foreign ministry has now taken the ventilator deal to prosecutors, saying its investigation found possible financial wrongdoing, concerns over deleted records, the use of intermediary firms, and heavy losses linked to unused and defective equipment.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 25, 2026 16:26 IST