The United States has announced sanctions on a senior Hungarian official with a critical role in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government for his alleged involvement in corruption.
The sanctions are being imposed on Antal Rogan, who “has used his role to enrich himself and those loyal to his party,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a news release on January 7.
Rogan “orchestrated schemes designed to control several strategic sectors of the Hungarian economy” and skim the proceeds from the sectors for himself and loyalists to Orban’s Fidesz party, the department said.
Under Orban's right-wing government, Hungary has been accused, at home and abroad, of democratic backsliding.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto blasted the U.S. action, calling it a “personal vendetta” of the U.S. ambassador.
“How good it is that in a few days' time the United States will be led by people who see our country as a friend and not an enemy,” he added, referring to the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has often praised Orban.
The U.S. statement noted that, in his role as minister in charge of Orban’s cabinet office, Rogan controls many government entities, including the National Communications Office, the Digital Government Agency, and the Hungarian Tourism Agency. Rogan also has been a member of parliament in Hungary since 1998.
“Throughout his tenure as a government official, Rogan has orchestrated Hungary’s system for distributing public contracts and resources to cronies loyal to himself and the Fidesz political party,” the department said.
He is being designated under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuses and corruption around the world.
SEE ALSO: Hungarians Rally As Whistle-Blower Exposes Alleged Corruption In Orban's Government“Corruption undermines a country’s governing institutions and limits its economic development, providing short-sighted gain to a select few while depriving future generations of longer-term benefit,” said acting Treasury Undersecretary Bradley T. Smith.
The department said public sector corruption in Hungary has been worsening for more than a decade, leading to Hungary receiving the lowest score of any European Union (EU) member state on Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index for the second consecutive year.
It also said whistleblowers in Hungary have criticized the government for operating a kleptocracy with a notable lack of transparency and equity in public and private expenditure deals made between administrators such as Rogan and loyalist business leaders.
"Hungary’s failure to address transparency issues in its public procurement mechanisms has most recently led to a loss of over 1 billion Euros in future funding from the European Union, disadvantaging Hungarian citizens,” the department noted.
The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. The sanctions freeze any property Rogan holds within U.S. jurisdiction and bar any dealings with him by a U.S. person.