Following the 2022 parliamentary elections, it was revealed that the electoral alliance of DK, Jobbik, Momentum, MSZP, LMP and the Dialogue party had received more than HUF 4 billion in illegal foreign campaign funding. 78 percent of the total amount reached Hungary through the US-registered Action for Democracy (A4D) foundation. Some of the money went to the DatAdat group, a company linked to former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, according to a report published by the Sovereignty Protection Office in May. But, as we will see, other risks have also emerged more recently.
In its investigations so far, the authority has found, among other things, that
* The videos of A4D (founded in early 2022) that leaked on the platform X (formerly known as Twitter), are authentic and not manipulated. They include David Koranyi, the organisation's CEO, Kati Marton and General Wesley Clark, members of A4D's international advisory board, and communications consultant Eric Koch, discussing how they are using certain backroom powers to step up against the Orban government, which was elected with a two-thirds majority in four consecutive parliamentary elections between 2010 and 2022.
* The illicit foreign campaign funding is backed by a network-like structure with its own political and business interests throughout Central Europe. Where these interests can be effectively pursued, countries are seen as good allies, but inplaces where the leadership is in conflicts with their interests - as is currently the case in Hungary - they want political change.
* Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros is a key supporter of the organization. Mr Koch says, in his own words, that the much-publicized micro-donations were not enough to "buy cold water" anyway.
* It was not the parties with illicit foreign funding that were looking for supporters, but the big donors who were seeking to find executors to achieve their goals.
* This is not a one-off incident, but a threat that is still active today, backed by an interest group that has been active in the region for a long time.