19:55 13 June 2022
Hungarian defense minister's Russian ties to be a glaring conflict of interest
Hungary's new Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky took office last month. He is a former Hungarian ambassador to London and a businessman active in gambling, railroads, and the defense industry. In 2019, Szalay-Bobrovniczky, through Hungarian Rail Investment Assets Management, bought half of the shares in Transmashholding Hungary, the Russian-Hungarian consortium that won the bid to manufacture and deliver 1,300 railcars worth €1 billion to Egypt. Russian company Transmash retained the remaining 50 percent stake.
The deal was backed by Hungary's and Russia's Eximbank, and the railcars are partially assembled at the formerly state-owned MÁV Dunakeszi repair facility, which was sold by the government in 2020 to Hungary's Transmashholding Invest.
Szalay-Bobrovniczky in September 2021 also became the owner of an 80 percent stake in Aero Vodochody, a Czech aircraft manufacturing company, thanks to a €133 million loan from the Hungarian Development Bank. In April 2022, Hungarian Defense Forces announced that it would buy twelve jets manufactured by Aero Vodochody.
Media reports indicate that the business he is running is not legally compatible with the position he holds, but Szalay-Bobrovniczky – as he indicated at a parliamentary hearing – considers these investments necessary for "the Hungarian national interest."
