Ukraine's Oschadbank dismisses Hungary's claim of new evidence against seized convoy, calling it 'falsified'

Hungary claimed on April 8 that it had new "evidence" that the Ukrainian bank convoy it seized earlier in March was part of a money laundering operation.

Zoltan Kovacs, the spokesperson for the Hungarian government, wrote that investigators had found "freshly-printed euros and dollars that had never entered circulation" and claimed that they were "tied to multiple banks, including Ukraine's Oschadbank, as well as Polish and Gibraltar-based institutions."

The new "evidence" also reportedly includes a video of a Ukrainian official "falsifying documents in a gas station restroom" and his associates discussing "corruption-related payments."

Ukraine's Oschadbank issued a public statement on March 8 in reply, dismissing the evidence presented by Hungary as falsified.

"The video contains audio of a conversation between members of the cash collection team. For publication to a Hungarian audience, Hungarian subtitles were added, including a phrase 'corruption money' that does not exist in the audio track," the bank's public statement reads.

"It is precisely this deliberately added phrase that forms the basis of (Hungary's) conclusions linking the video to the case of unlawful detention of Oschadbank’s funds."

Hungarian authorities seized two Ukrainian armored bank vehicles on March 5 that were transporting approximately $82 million in cash and gold from Austria to Ukraine.

While the Ukrainian personnel accompanying the vehicles were released from detention the following day, Hungarian officials have not yet returned the financial assets, claiming they are part of an ongoing investigation. Ukraine's Oschadbank has said it will pursue legal action to recover the funds.

According to Oschadbank, Hungary has also not responded to multiple requests regarding the legal grounds for continuing to hold bank employees' personal property.

As Hungary approaches its parliamentary election on April 12, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has increasingly invoked Ukraine as a political foil, using the neighboring country as a rallying point to energize his base.

Investigative reports emerged in early March that Russia has been meddling in the elections to help sway them in Orban's favor, and there have been ongoing concerns among EU officials that Budapest may be sharing intelligence with Moscow.

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