US sanctions key member of Viktor Orbán’s inner circle for ‘corruption’

The United States Treasury Department has sanctioned the head of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Cabinet office, Antal Rogán, for his alleged involvement in corruption. 

Washington accuses Rogán, considered a key member of the Hungarian government, of using his office to foster systematic corruption designed to reward himself and other Orbán loyalists. Under the sanctions, all of Rogán’s assets in the United States are blocked, while U.S. citizens are prohibited from doing business with him. 

The move was announced by the Treasury Department in a statement and was confirmed by U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman. “The United States did not take this decision lightly,” Pressman said, adding that while “Antal Rogán is at the center of the corruption system in Hungary,” he’s not the only one involved.

“The United States will not hesitate to hold accountable individuals, like Rogán, who use the power of their office to illicitly enrich themselves and their cronies at the expense of their country and their fellow citizens,” declared Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, meanwhile, called the sanctions “personal revenge” on the part of the outgoing U.S. ambassador; Rogán’s office repeated the claim in a statement to Hungarian news portal Telex. “After January 20, the United States of America will have a new government and a new president. We will take the necessary legal steps after their inauguration,” the office wrote.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Rogán a corrupt government official for having orchestrated a system in Hungary in which public contracts and resources are distributed to cronies loyal to Rogán personally and to Orbán’s Fidesz party more broadly. The system allegedly allows those cronies to control strategic sectors of the Hungarian economy. 

Rogán, the only Hungarian citizen on the financial sanctions list, has headed the prime minister’s office since 2015. He handles the day-to-day operations of Orbán’s leadership and oversees the government’s IT services and communications department — regarded as Orbán’s propaganda arm — as well as the country’s domestic intelligence services. 

According to an interview Rogán gave to Hungarian news portal 444 last July, his main task is to run Orbán’s back office and to provide the Hungarian prime minister with any needed assistance. 

The sanctions decision comes just two weeks before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president. While Trump ostensibly has a close relationship with the Hungarian leader, the Orbán government regards the outgoing Biden administration and especially its envoy in Budapest as an enemy.