New details have emerged about the seizure of two armored bank vehicles by Hungarian officials earlier this month, including allegations that the then-detained Ukrainian bank workers were beaten and injected with an unknown substance, Euronews reported. 

On March 5, Hungarian authorities arrested seven employees of Oschadbank who were transporting £60 million in cash and 9kg in gold from Austria to Ukraine, alleging that the bankers were part of a money-laundering scheme. The bank workers and vehicles were ultimately released but Hungarian officials retained the cash and gold, worth an estimated $82 million, as part of an alleged investigation into the matter. 

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

In the first public account from a member of the team since the incident, Hennadiy Kuznetsov said the valuables were collected from Raiffeisen Bank in Vienna, cleared by Austrian customs, and cleared for transit through Hungary after documents were submitted at the Chop-Zagon border crossing, Euronews reported. 

The convoy was later blocked on Budapest’s ring road by armored anti-terrorism vehicles, and team members were handcuffed, he said, according to the report. Some had bags or balaclavas placed over their heads and were taken to the Anti-Terrorist Centre in Budapest, where they were questioned for more than 24 hours and provided with a Russian interpreter rather than an Ukrainian one, according to the report. 

When Kuznetsov refused to answer questions, he was told he would to have undergo “a compulsory medical procedure,” he said, adding that he was taken to a hospital.

“One injection was administered, and then another intravenous injection was given directly at the hospital. After that, I was taken back for questioning,” he said in the report.  After these injections, he felt “unwell” during the questioning, and the law enforcement officers took him back to a hospital where he was put on a drip, according to Euronews. Oschadbank said forensic examinations in Ukraine later found unspecified substances in his body. 

During the detention his colleagues were also subjected to “moral and psychological pressure, and beatings,” he said told reporters. 

Read more at Euronews