Full Breakdown
Hungary Files Criminal Complaint Over Pandemic Ventilator Procurement
8/25/2026, 9:26:10 PM
Background and Context
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hungary’s former government ordered a massive stock of mechanical ventilators from Chinese suppliers. The purchase, carried out under the foreign ministry led by former minister Péter Szijjártó, was justified by an emergency “special legal order” that bypassed normal public-procurement procedures.
Timeline of Key Developments
- March–April 2020 – Contracts for roughly 17,000 ventilators, spending about 300 billion forints (? $964 million).
- 2022-2023 – Media scrutiny and parliamentary inquiries raise questions about volume, price and technical suitability.
- Early 2024 – The foreign ministry conducts an internal review, recovering tens of thousands of documents after attempted deletion.
- Spring 2024 – Foreign Minister Anita Orbán files a criminal complaint, referring the matter for possible investigation of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
Data and Statistics
- Expenditure: ~300 billion forints (? $964 million).
- Units purchased: 16,853 ventilators plus protective gear, PCR tests and medicines.
- Units deployed: About 2,500 ventilators were delivered; the majority remained in storage.
- Price disparity: Ministry figures show an average purchase price of 17 million forints per ventilator, while producers reportedly sold the same models for US $1,000–5,000 (? 1–5 million forints).
- Intermediary profit: Six firms together generated a price difference of 13.4 billion forints above producer prices.
Official Statements and Responses
The ministry highlighted three irregularities: (1) procurement through intermediaries without a public tender, (2) a significant share of ventilators being defective or unsuitable, and storage costs running into billions of forints for unused equipment. It noted that former senior leadership could bear responsibility but stopped short of assigning criminal liability to any individual, including former foreign minister Péter Szijjártó.
Why It Matters / Impact
The case underscores challenges of emergency procurement when oversight mechanisms are suspended. Prosecutorial findings could set precedents for future emergency-spending audits in Hungary and the EU and revive debate over the former government’s ties with China.
What’s Next
Prosecutors must decide whether the material gathered justifies a formal criminal investigation. If the case proceeds, investigators will examine the chain from emergency need to supplier selection, pricing, delivery, technical suitability and storage. All persons implicated retain the presumption of innocence until a judicial determination is made.
