A scandal has erupted in Hungary after independent MP Ákos Hadházy published photos of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s unfinished mansion in Hatvanpuszta, which includes a palm garden and a private zoo.

Source: HVG and other Hungarian media outlets

Details: Ákos Hadházy released photographs of the Orbán family estate in Hatvanpuszta, which, according to Gergely Gulyás, the minister responsible for the Prime Minister’s Office, is merely an “estate”, while Orbán himself claims it is his father’s farm, still under construction.

The independent MP also shared older photographs of the estate taken four years ago. He said the images were taken by “a worker who was employed there briefly but quickly quit because ‘he was disgusted’.” According to Hadházy, construction workers are subjected to strict regulation: “phones are confiscated from workers and threats are made when they enter the premises”.

“Well, if this is a farm, then it’s a very strange one,” Hadházy wrote on his Facebook.

In his description, the photographs show that “a heating cable was installed under the park’s paving so that, in the event of snowfall, the prime minister wouldn’t have to clear it himself (the paving then became the most expensive cobblestone possible).”

Additional photographs show an underground brick-lined corridor connecting the buildings.

Over the weekend, Hadházy even organised a tour of Hatvanpuszta. During the first of such visits, interested participants could peek into the carefully fenced-off territory from a staircase.

Several thousand people joined the tour, all eager to see for themselves whether the independent MP was right: whether this was indeed an unfinished farm belonging to Orbán’s father or rather a baroque-style chateau for Orbán’s son — complete with a library, promenade, chapel, palm garden, solar power plant, fountains, an underground garage, a pond, and a private zoo.

Hungarian journalists likened the atmosphere of the estate to that of the moment when protesters first entered the country home of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 to see with their own eyes whether or not his toilet was really made of gold.

The article mentions a mother who encouraged her five-year-old son to bypass a queue of cars at least two kilometres long, saying: “Let’s go and see the zebras!” It is noted that there were so many exotic animals that even a hastily erected earthen embankment, police security, mobile fencing and quad bikes were not enough to keep zebras, antelopes and buffaloes away from curious onlookers.

The article also states that Orbán’s builders demolished classical architectural monuments to construct a rural residence in their place.

Although members of the government and Viktor Orbán himself have repeatedly said that, contrary to the news, the Hatvanpuszta estate is merely the farm of the prime minister’s father, energy certificates obtained by an MP indicate that an official energy certificate was also requested for a residential building.

Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition party Tisza and Orbán’s main rival in the upcoming elections, has already promised that if he comes into power, the State Audit Office will launch an investigation into the assets of all former government members, officials, and their close relatives from the past twenty years. He asserted that the investigation will also cover Viktor Orbán’s estate in Hatvanpuszta.

“The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office will be able to request all information from permitting authorities and the heritage protection office, as well as interview investors and workers employed at Viktor Orbán’s construction site,” Magyar said.

It is worth noting that in recent months Hungarians have protested against a number of Orbán’s decisions. Notably, demonstrations have taken place protesting a bill aimed against public organisations and independent media, as well as a law banning LGBT Pride events.

After the adoption of the law banning LGBT Pride events, the Hungarian parliament also approved amendments to the Fundamental Law that, among other things, limit the rights of the LGBT community.

All opposition parties were against the adoption of the amendment to Hungary’s Fundamental Law. In addition, mass protests against it took place in Budapest.

Meanwhile, the bill entitled On the Transparency of Public Life will allow the Sovereignty Protection Office to blacklist organisations that receive foreign funding, including EU grants. The Office will be able to do so if it considers the organisations a “threat” to national sovereignty.

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