The Hungarian bank accused of financing Vox has as its main shareholder Corvinus International Investment, an investment company 100% controlled by the Hungarian state chaired by Viktor Orbán. It is also one of the companies behind the public takeover bid (OPA) launched by Magyar Vagon for the railway manufacturer Talgo, which the government vetoed for reasons of “national security”. .
Vox received a loan of more than 9 million euros in 2023 to face the electoral processes, as published by elDiario.es in this topic. At that time, the spokesperson for the group, José Antonio Fúster, refused during a press conference to give more information on this financing and assured that the origin of this credit “is known to the one who must know this, the Court of Auditors”. Following this information, the investigative media Vsquare directly pointed the finger at a financial entity: MBH Bank, “a financial giant resulting from the merger of three entities” and which is partly “owned by Lőrinc Mészáros, the man behind ‘Hungary’s richest businessman and a child friend of Orbán’, according to this publication.
Vox confirmed to elDiario.es that it had requested funding from foreign entities, without revealing which ones. However, Europa Press assures that “sources from the Vox executive acknowledge having requested a loan of just over nine million to finance the campaigns for the municipal and general elections of 2023 from the Hungarian bank MBH”.
“We can confirm that Vox requested loans from foreign banks after many Spanish banks, entities that lend money to the Popular Party and the PSOE, refused to lend money to Vox. We have a list of almost 25 banking entities that lend money to the PP and PSOE and refuse it to Vox,” sources from the party led by Santiago Abascal tell elDiario.es.
Likewise, they add that “we can confirm that we requested money from the banks due to the delay – we do not know if deliberate – of the Government in the restitution of electoral expenses to the parties. And we can confirm that these loans are already repaid at the end of 2023. And we wonder why some Spanish entities refuse to lend money to a party for which three million people vote. Why are they refusing the money it would take to make these loans? Why do they refuse to take advantage? Does it make sense for banks to try to influence politics in this way?
For her part, Pepa Millán, spokesperson for Vox in the Congress of Deputies, also acknowledged that Hungarian funding had been used. “I don’t know if this bank is close to Orbán or not, I know it’s a Hungarian bank,” he told the media. “Given the impossibility of obtaining this loan, which all political parties obtain, especially during the electoral period, and given the delay, we do not know if it is deliberate or not, from the General Administration of the ‘State with election expenses that correspond to any policy and the impossibility, since no bank was willing to lend it to us, so we went to a Hungarian bank.
What the law says about party financing
In the event that Vox was financed through a state-controlled bank, in this case Hungary’s, this could constitute a violation of the law on political party financing.
Specifically, this establishes that “the parties may not accept any form of financing from foreign governments and organizations, entities or public companies or companies directly or indirectly related to them”, as reflected in its Article 7. In this case, it would be financing by a bank whose main shareholder is the Hungarian State.
The law also provides that “political parties” may receive non-finalist donations from foreign individuals, within the limits, requirements and conditions established in this law for private contributions, and provided that the requirements of the regulations in force on the exchanges are also fulfilled. control and capital movements.
A state-owned bank following a merger
The designated Hungarian bank, Magyar Bankholding (MBH Bank), is the country’s largest lender. It is the result of a three-way merger and has Corvinus International Investment as its largest shareholder, according to its 2023 annual accounts. Concretely, Corvinus holds a little more than 30% of the capital. It is a bank which has nearly 2.4 million customers, more than 500 offices and the equivalent of more than 19 billion euros in deposits, according to its website.
The entity itself recognizes, when it speaks of the merger process it has carried out in recent years, that it is in the hands of the State. “The Hungarian state owns 30.35% of the shares through Corvinus International Investment,” he admitted when talking about the integration of Budapest Bank Group and MBH Bank. Subsequently, it finalized its integration with Takarékbank. In this sense, two entities linked to the latter – Magyar Takarék Befektetési és Vagyongazdálkodási and Magyar Takarék Holding – appear as the second and third shareholders of the bank, with 25% and 12.5% of the capital respectively, according to the aforementioned. annual accounts. Two other companies are included in this stake, Metis Magántőkealap and Global Alfa Magántőkealap, controlling 11.5% and 3.29%.
The latter would be linked to Lőrinc Mészáros, a personal friend of Orbán, according to information published by VsQuare. The journalist Szabolcs Panyi, author of the information that links this entity to the financing of Vox, also mentions in statements to elDiario.es another company that appears in the shareholding of MBH Bank: Blue Robin Investments, with 10.8% . The latter would be linked to György Matolcsy, “a former ally of Orbán, with whom he is now in conflict”, specifies Panyi.
This is not the first time that the role of the Hungarian state in the MBH bank has been mentioned. This article published by the Financial Times already explains how the Orbán government favored the integration of Magyar financial entities to create a large national bank with the capacity to influence abroad and carry out its own agenda. Executive sources have assured British media that the fact that the State holds 30% of the bank’s capital means that “there is not and cannot be political influence in its day-to-day running.” » and that it was “subject to the same legal and operational framework”. much stricter standards than any national bank.
Journalist Szabolcs Panyi also explains to elDiario.es that the Corvinus public fund “is used by the government” of Orbán “mainly for acquisitions and international business”. “Recently, for example, the Hungarian government and the French airport operator Vince bought Budapest airport,” he points out. “Corvinus is fundamentally the Hungarian state,” he sums up.
Behind the takeover bid for Talgo
Corvinus was one of the companies behind Magyar Vagon’s bid for Talgo. In the documentation sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), where it explained the offer, it was specified that the vehicle that made the acquisition proposal was Ganz-Mavag Europe Zrt. In this company, 55% of the capital was held by Ganz-Mavag Holding and the remaining 45% by Corvinus Zrt. (Corvinus International Investment Private Limited Company). “Corvinus is a company entirely controlled by the Hungarian state,” he admitted to the market controller. “The rights to this property are exercised by the Hungarian Ministry of National Economy,” he said.
On August 30, the Hungarian group Ganz Mavag (Magyar Vagon) withdrew its public takeover offer for Talgo, which valued the train manufacturer at 620 million euros. He took a step back after the government vetoed the operation.
“The analysis carried out determined that authorizing this operation would pose risks to guaranteeing national security and public order. In this context, the Council of Ministers declared the information contained in this file classified,” summarized the Executive. “For the Government, Talgo is a strategic company in a key sector for the economic security, territorial cohesion and industrial development of Spain,” he concluded.
