Between 2011 and 2023, EU taxpayers may have unwittingly contributed €3.2–5.5bn to the consolidation of Viktor Orban’s kleptocratic regime, according to a new study by the Corruption Research Centre Budapest (CRCB).

CRBC analysed 340,000 public procurement contracts and researchers focused on tenders awarded to 13 key business figures tied to the prime minister, with a focus on contracts granted without competition, both considered high-risk for corruption.

The group includes prominent names such as Lorinc Meszaros, the gas fitter-turned-oligarch and now Hungary’s wealthiest man, Istvan Tiborcz, the son-in-law of the prime minister and construction and media magnates. former insiders such as Zsolt Homlok, and even Lajos Simicska, who later fell out with Orban, are also on the list. Homlok, once married to Meszaros’s daughter, became a target after their divorce, facing investigations by the tax authority and competition office.

Simicska, a former Fidesz treasurer and Orbán’s university roommate, was ultimately forced out of his businesses after confronting with the prime minister in 2015, which were later taken over by Meszaros.

According to CBRC, the top dozen Orban oligarch actors secured a combined €19.3bn in EU-funded contracts over the 13 years. In contrast, the same businessman secured €451mn from EU funds between 2005 and 2010.

Applying a “kleptocratic rent” rate of 20-40%, the study estimates that 3.8–6.4% of all EU-financed contract value may have been diverted.

Overpricing was even more pronounced in domestically funded projects, with kleptocratic rents reaching 7.6-13%. Overall, the report suggests the regime was financed roughly one-third by EU citizens and two-thirds by Hungarian taxpayers, with electoral cycles influencing the flow of EU money used to reinforce political power.

According to the study, companies affiliated with Meszaros secured 701 public procurement contracts between 2011 and 2023, with a total value of €9.5bn of which €5.6bn was financed by EU taxpayers.

Before Orban came to power, Meszaros had not won a single public contract. His firms’ contract volume grew steadily as Orbán’s system consolidated, especially between 2011 and 2021. In the early years (2011-2018), up to 100% of his public contracts were EU-funded.