Hungary officials ‘gave Ukrainian forced injection’ after raid on bank vehicles | Hungary

Hungarian security officers administered a “forced injection” to one of the Ukrainians detained during a dramatic raid on bank vehicles carrying gold bars and tens of millions of dollars and euros in cash earlier this month, sources told the Guardian.

Hungary’s ONLY anti-terrorism police detained seven Ukrainians from state savings bank Oschadbank on March 5. They were escorting a convoy of two armored vehicles from Vienna to Ukraine as it passed through Hungary in what Kiev claimed was an orderly transfer of state funds. Hungarian officials claimed it was money for the “Ukrainian war mafia”, without providing details.

The men were detained for more than 24 hours, most of them blindfolded and handcuffed, before being deported to Ukraine. Security sources in Kiev said that during this time, one of the men, a former employee of Ukraine’s SBU security service, was given a forced injection.

The sources added that they believed the injection contained a relaxant intended to predispose subjects to become talkative during interrogation. However, it was reported that the drug caused the diabetic man to have a hypertensive crisis and lose consciousness. He was eventually hospitalized.

One Ukrainian source described the forced injection as a “Russian-style method”, a reference to the so-called truth serums used in KGB interrogations in previous years. Another source said traces of this class of drug were detected in blood tests taken after the men returned to Ukraine.

The Guardian has not seen the test results and cannot verify the claims. However, the individuals’ Hungarian lawyer, Lóránt Horváth, confirmed that “a person was injected with unknown ingredients despite his objections”. A Hungarian police source told the Guardian they had heard from colleagues about the injection but did not know what it involved.

A spokesman for TEK referred questions to Hungary’s tax and customs agency, NAV, but did not respond; A spokesman for Oschadbank said the bank could not comment on the allegations, citing medical privacy concerns. However, it was confirmed that one of the people arrested was a “person with a disability”. [who] “He needs a special diet and regular medication,” the bank said, adding that this person’s health condition deteriorated and “medical care was provided after he lost consciousness.”

Horváth said that in recent days Oschadbank had filed a criminal complaint against the Hungarian authorities on behalf of seven staff members regarding criminal and civil allegations, as well as misconduct, and sought to overturn the decision to deport them and ban them from the Schengen area. The bank is also seeking the return of funds still seized in Hungary.

The raid took place at a time when crucial parliamentary elections were approaching in Hungary. Polls show nationalist leader Viktor Orbán is in danger of losing his grip on power after 16 years. Orbán, whose government is in regular contact with Moscow, was the EU’s most pro-Russian leader and, before the elections, sought to portray Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the biggest threat to Hungary. There are many reports alleged He said Russia was actively working to support Orbán’s campaign.

Ukrainian sources said land transfers of government funds became a common practice as Russia’s war closed Ukrainian airspace. They accused Budapest of looking for an excuse to escalate tensions between the two countries. Many similar shipments had previously passed through Hungary, said a source, who claimed that authorities in Budapest were always informed of the route. Police escort was sometimes provided, although not this time.

This time, TEK officers waited in ambush for the two-vehicle convoy and stopped it by pointing guns at the vehicles as it moved on the highway. The Ukrainians eventually got out of the cars and were arrested. Kiev discovered the location of the convoy because a GPS tracker on one of the cars showed that the convoy was in TEK territory, but it took several hours for Hungary to admit it had captured the men. During interrogation, the Ukrainians were handcuffed for hours and were not given a Ukrainian interpreter, only a Russian-speaking one.

A Hungarian police source said: “The whole operation was unprofessional and not everyone at TEK was happy about having to carry it out.

“They didn’t even know there were GPS tracking devices in the car. When the Ukrainians heard about it on the news, they realized they knew where the men were being held.”

Late the next evening, the seven men were taken to the Ukrainian border, deported and banned from entering the Schengen area. The Hungarians retained their possessions, which were only later sent to Ukraine; Hungarian authorities still hold the money and gold.

Hungary filed a money laundering case over the funds, claiming they were sent to Ukraine’s “war mafia.” The story received widespread coverage in state-controlled media; Orbán’s pre-election narrative was that Brussels and Kiev were trying to drag Hungary into the Ukrainian war and that Ukraine was a corrupt black hole swallowing funds sent by Europe. On Thursday Orbán refused to lift his veto on a €90bn (£78bn) EU loan to Ukraine.

Responding to earlier threats to veto the loan, a frustrated Zelenskyy said on the day his bank vehicle was seized that he could give Orbán’s address to the Ukrainian military. “Let them call him and speak in their own language,” he said. The comments were quickly incorporated into the Hungarian government’s messaging about Ukraine, with Orbán claiming that Ukrainians were now targeting his family.

Oschadbank said its priority now was to ensure the release of funds. Horváth, the Ukrainians’ Hungarian lawyer, pointed to public comments by János Lázár, the transport minister and a close ally of Orbán, who suggested that the seizure of the money was a politically motivated response to Kiev’s reluctance to repair a pipeline transporting Russian gas through Ukraine to Hungary. “If they are blackmailing us… we will not give the money back. The money will stay here for now,” Lázár said at a campaign event.