Hungary’s Integrity Authority has developed an artificial intelligence and machine-learning platform to track Hungary’s financial flows in real time as it works to trace an estimated €160 billion in public funds alleged to have been misappropriated during former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, according to new reporting by the Financial Times. 

Ferenc Biró, appointed in 2022 to establish the authority as part of EU conditions for Hungary to regain access to frozen bloc funds, told the FT that corruption within the country accelerated sharply in Orbán’s final year in office, with state authorities increasing their control of public funds by 50 percent as officials pushed to extract as much as possible before losing power. Biró estimated that as much as 15 to 20 percent of government spending in 2025 was improperly directed, up from roughly two to three percent when Orbán took power in 2010. 

Biró separately told Politico that three unnamed companies were awarded the majority of state contracts over the past four years at artificially inflated prices, with estimated overpricing of around €3.5 billion on a combined spend of roughly €10 billion, and that senior politicians from Orbán’s government could face prosecution over the alleged scheme. 

“The country badly needs those funds that have been stolen,” he told the FT.

When the authority began examining procurement irregularities, Orbán government officials were directed to minimize contact and cooperation with the agency, Biró told the newspaper After he filed a detailed report to the government in early 2025 warning of concentrated public procurement and inadequate controls, his offices were raided by armed officials in what Biró described as retaliation. 

Hungary’s chief prosecutor’s office, led by an Orbán-era appointee, announced it had brought charges against Biró on June 5 for alleged misappropriation of approximately €400,000 in public funds, most of which the office said was spent on lobbying and communications work in Brussels. Biró denied wrongdoing and told the FT the prosecution was politically motivated retaliation for the authority’s investigations. 

Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who swept to power in April on a pledge to end corruption and restore Hungary’s EU ties, has agreed with Brussels to unlock up to €16.4 billion in previously frozen funds, with a comprehensive reform plan due by the end of August, Politico said. Magyar’s government has also pledged to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office—a body Orbán had declined to join—and to establish a new asset recovery agency to pursue the repatriation of misappropriated funds.

Since leaving office, Orbán has kept a low profile and has not taken up his parliamentary seat, though he has retained the Fidesz chairmanship. He is expected in Brussels on June 17 to attend a gathering of Patriots for Europe leaders ahead of the European Council summit on June 18 and 19. The planned visit will be his first to the EU capital since losing power, Euronews said.