Hungary’s National Cultural Fund scandal leads to arrests and fund returns

Following the April parliamentary elections, Hungary’s National Cultural Fund (NKA) allocated a 17 billion‑forint budget, including about 10 million forints to Hungarian organisations in Slovakia. The disbursements were overseen by ministers Miklós Kásler, János Csák and Balázs Hankó, who together allocated nearly 11 billion forints from a discretionary ministerial fund, with Hankó alone distributing roughly 3 billion in the months before the vote. Investigations uncovered that many grants favoured groups linked to the ruling Fidesz party and served campaign purposes.

The probe triggered the detention of several officials, including the cabinet chief who was held for 30 days, and forced the return of about 90 percent of the unlawfully paid sums to the state treasury. Actor‑activist Molnár Áron, speaking on a radio programme, said the inquiry had produced concrete results, halted further payouts and exposed a broader pattern of misuse in state‑funded programmes.