Hungary’s long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is facing mounting political pressure ahead of an April 12 election as a sprawling estate in his home village becomes a flashpoint for opposition claims of corruption, according to a Financial Times report.

The newspaper reported that Hatvanpuszta, a former Habsburg manor in Fejér county now owned by Orbán’s father, Győző Orbán, has been transformed through an extensive renovation into a symbol of the wealth and power surrounding the Hungarian leader after 16 years in office. An FT flight over the estate showed manicured gardens, pools, a palm house, a chapel, and a large main building with new wings. 

Several people familiar with the matter told the FT that Orbán and his wife, Anikó Lévai, were closely involved in the reconstruction of Hatvanpuszta, and local media have reported that Lévai personally oversaw its decoration. The newspaper said local media have also reported that Győző Orbán renovated the property with the help of Lőrinc Mészáros, one of Orbán’s oldest friends and a former mayor of Felcsút who rose to become Hungary’s richest person after securing major state construction contracts.

Győző Orbán bought the estate in 2011, Mészáros rented it for 10 years and paid the full lease in advance, helping finance the purchase, according to reporting by Hungarian journalist Krisztina Ferenczi cited by the FT. The newspaper said photographs published by local media later showed machines bearing Mészáros company logos working on the renovation. 

Beyond Hatvanpuszta, the FT described Felcsút as home to a football stadium with nearly twice as many seats as the village has residents, a training complex for Felcsút FC, a four-star hotel operated by a non-profit founded by Orbán, an EU-funded narrow-gauge railway, and an exclusive golf club owned by Orbán’s father but operated by a company shared by Mészáros and Orbán’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz.

Both Mészáros and Tiborcz have benefited from government contracts, the news agency said. Tiborcz denied his rise was linked to family ties, with a spokesman telling the newspaper that no company directly controlled by him had participated in state public procurement since 2015 and that any state-related business involving his holding group was negligible relative to total revenues.

According to the report, billions of euros in EU funds and Hungarian taxpayer money have flowed to Orbán allies, often through single-bid tenders. The newspaper said the European Union froze about €20 billion in funds owed to Hungary over concerns about rule of law and corruption, with most of the money still blocked after more than three years.

Opposition activist Róbert Puzsér described the estate to the FT as “not only the embodiment of shameless posturing, but a symbol of Viktor Orbán’s feudalism and obscene wealth accumulation.”

Read more at the Financial Times