Hungary returned two seized armored bank vehicles to Ukraine on Thursday but continued to hold cash and gold worth about $82 million as part of an alleged money-laundering investigation, according to Reuters. 

The decision to retain the funds drew sharp criticism from Ukrainian officials, who characterized the move as theft, Reuters said. Hungarian authorities last week detained seven Ukrainians who had been transporting the cash and gold from Austria on behalf of Oschadbank, alleging that the bankers were involved in money laundering.

Ukraine accused Hungary of effectively taking bank employees hostage to pressure Kyiv into resuming suspended oil shipments, Reuters said.

Hungarian officials have repeatedly blamed Ukraine for the suspension of Russian crude oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which Kyiv has said was damaged by a Russian drone strike in late January. 

Following the seizure of cash and 9kg of gold from the armored vehicles, Hungarian officials questioned why the funds were being physically transported instead of transferred from bank to bank. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban separately said in a radio appearance on Friday that “transit shipments” important to Ukraine would be halted until a dispute over Russian oil was settled, the BBC said. 

Lorant Horvath, a lawyer for the detainees, told reporters on Thursday that Oschadbank considered the transfer of the money to be lawful. “Oschadbank will use all legal means at its disposal to recover its assets,” Horvath said, according to Reuters.

Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law proposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party allowing the tax authority to retain the cash and gold for 60 days while it investigates the origin and destination of the assets and assesses any implications for Hungary’s national security, Reuters reported.

Hungary remains the sole holdout on the approval of a new sweeping EU sanctions package aimed at Moscow. Earlier this week, Orban called on the bloc to lift all sanctions on Russia’s fossil fuel sector. 

Read more at Reuters