Hungary has opened a new legal front in the long-running debate over its pandemic procurement decisions. Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said the foreign ministry submitted a criminal complaint to prosecutors after an internal review of a large ventilator purchase found grounds to suspect misconduct tied to equipment acquired during the COVID-19 emergency.
The transaction at the center of the complaint was enormous. According to the supplied Associated Press report, the earlier government spent around 300 billion forints, or about $965 million, on roughly 17,000 breathing machines sourced from China during spring 2020. The purchase was controversial from the outset because critics argued Hungary bought more machines than it could realistically use and paid more per unit than some other European buyers.
Orbán said the ministry review pointed to possible breach-of-duty offenses that caused heavy financial damage, though the report provided no charging document and did not establish that crimes had already been proven. What it does confirm is that the ministry has now formally referred the matter to prosecutors. That move shifts the story from a retrospective political dispute into a potential criminal inquiry with real institutional consequences.
The evidence supplied by AP also says investigators worked through a very large documentary record. Orbán said tens of thousands of files were examined and that some records had to be restored with digital tools after unsuccessful deletion attempts. She further said the review raised questions about the conduct of former senior ministry leaders. Those accusations remain claims from the current government, not findings independently verified in the material provided here.
The government statement cited by AP also described other warning signs around the deal. It said intermediary companies profited sharply from the transaction, some ventilators proved faulty, many units were never put into service and the state later bore major storage costs for unused stock. Those details help explain why prosecutors are being asked to intervene, even though the supplied reporting does not show the legal merits have yet been tested in court.
Former foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, who oversaw the procurement and was known for close engagement with China, adds political sensitivity to the case. AP notes that he recently left parliament for an executive role at Chinese automaker BYD, fueling separate conflict-of-interest criticism. Even so, the core verified development is narrower: Hungary has filed a complaint over a major COVID-era purchase, and prosecutors must now decide whether that complaint warrants a deeper case.
