Soros-Backed Transparency International Hungary Posts Year-End Loss

The foundation is one of the NGOs that are pre-occupied with trying to withhold EU funds from Hungary.

George Soros (Photo: MTI/EPA/Clemens Bilan)

Transparency International Hungary is facing a challenging period, especially after its leader, Miklós Ligeti, stumbled with several hard-to-explain mistakes during a debate at the Tranzit festival.

Despite receiving 35 million forints from George Soros's foundation last year, they appear to have had an unsuccessful financial year.

Transparency International (TI), part of the Soros network, ranked Hungary last in the EU in its 2023 corruption report. The credibility of this ranking is called into question by the fact that, during a debate at the Tranzit festival, TI Hungary's legal director was unable to explain how their corruption perception index is compiled, even though it has been the basis for several legal actions against Hungary and the withholding of EU funds.

The Transparency International Hungary Foundation is one of the NGOs advocating for conditions that could lead to the withholding of EU funds from Hungary, relying largely on foreign funding. Partly using money received from Brussels, they are working to ensure that Hungary does not receive the funds it is entitled to.

According to a report uploaded at the end of May, in 2023 they received 84.4 million forints in funding from the EU budget or from other states and international organizations, an increase of two million forints from the previous year.

 There is also a slight increase in the amount of personal income tax (PIT) donations, now totaling nearly 5.5 million forints, up from 4.3 million forints.

In 2023, one of the key financiers of TI Hungary's charitable activities was the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations, which contributed $100,000—approximately HUF 35 million. Other notable donors included the Dutch, French, British, and Swedish embassies, the German Marshall Fund, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, Budapest's 6th District Municipality, and the European Commission, which funds TI's activities through several programs. That same year, Transparency International awarded the Soma Prize to journalists from Direkt36, another Soros-linked newspaper.

Last year, TI Hungary, together with two other organizations—K-Monitor and Átlátszó.hu—joined the Anti-Corruption Working Group, which collaborates with the so-called Integrity Authority. In 2023, they sharply criticized the creation of Hungary's Sovereignty Protection Office. These organizations are now among the first targets of the office's ongoing investigations, where TI Hungary has been accused of hindering cooperation.

TI also organized its investigative mentoring program for the 11th time in 2023, working with media outlets like Szabad Pécs, Magyar Narancs - also funded by the billionaire speculator - and Siófok Hírek.

There was a notable personnel change at the foundation in 2023, as Gábor Gadó, a former state secretary during the second Gyurcsány government, left the board of trustees.

Financially, their net sales revenue, largely from legal activities, dropped sharply from HUF 22.7 million to HUF 3.5 million, and their total income decreased from HUF 122.5 million to HUF 101.5 million. In contrast, staff-related expenses increased by more than 15 percent, from HUF 63.7 million to HUF 73.8 million. A striking change is that while in 2022 they closed with a profit of HUF 15.6 million, last year they posted a loss of HUF 18.6 million.