Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) has closed its money laundering investigation into the cash and gold seized from a Ukrainian Oschadbank convoy in March, finding no crime was committed, Dr. Lóránt Horváth, the bank’s lead attorney, wrote in a post on Wednesday, Aug. 19.
NAV’s Central Investigation Department terminated the case, which had been opened under Article 399 of Hungary’s Criminal Code covering money laundering, the post said.
Hungary’s Counter-Terrorism Centre intercepted two Oschadbank armored vehicles near Budapest on March 5, carrying $40 million in cash, €35 million (around $38 million), and 9 kilograms (19.8 pounds) of gold en route from Raiffeisen’s Vienna headquarters to Kyiv. Seven Ukrainian employees were detained and later deported, though their deportation orders and Schengen bans were canceled in May.
Investigators concluded the banknotes and gold intercepted near Budapest in March originated from an interbank transaction between Raiffeisen Bank International AG and JSC Oschadbank. Raiffeisen documented the origin of the currency and precious metals it sold, as well as Oschadbank’s payment for them, according to the post.
The evidence gathered during the probe confirmed the assets did not stem from a criminal act, the post said, and raised no doubts about their lawful source. NAV found the case lacked the statutory elements of a crime, and no other criminal suspicion arose.
A separate investigation into the couriers’ alleged unlawful detention remains open. Former TEK director general János Hajdú is a suspect in that case, the post said. Horváth’s post added that the closure of the money-laundering case provides further grounds to conclude the March operation was politically motivated.
Hungarian authorities denied both Ukrainian consular officials and defense lawyers access to the seven detainees throughout their confinement at the Counter-Terrorism Centre building, Horváth told Kyiv Post in March. The employees said they were held in handcuffs for 28 hours and moved between locations blindfolded, with their phones and belongings confiscated, cutting them off from the embassy and their families. One employee with diabetes was denied medical attention until he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.
The seized cash, gold, and vehicles were fully returned to Ukraine by May 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the time. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose government replaced Viktor Orbán’s after this spring’s election, ordered an internal investigation into NAV, TEK, and other agencies involved in the case in June.