The Hungarian Integrity Office has developed an artificial intelligence-based model to track funds that may have been misappropriated during the 16 years of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s rule. According to preliminary estimates, the likely amount could exceed 160 billion euros. This is reported by the Financial Times.
“We have created a modern anti-corruption agency using artificial intelligence and machine learning, integrated into a system capable of tracking economic transactions in Hungary in real time,” said Ferenc Bíró, the head of the Hungarian Integrity Office.
According to him, the new Hungarian government, led by Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, seeks to return state funds that may have been illegally distributed among people from Orban’s inner circle as soon as possible. The exact amount of possible losses has not yet been established.
Bíró said that Orban’s previous government did not cooperate with the Hungarian Integrity Agency, which limited the effectiveness of the agency’s work. Now the agency is counting on intensifying investigations and strengthening its powers.
“I think that very large sums can be repatriated. The country desperately needs the stolen funds, and most of this money is currently abroad,” Bíró emphasized.
Earlier, Magyar said that people from Orban’s inner circle allegedly began to withdraw capital abroad, sell assets and transfer funds to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uruguay and other countries.
The anti-corruption campaign of the new Hungarian government should be part of a broader process of reviewing the financial transactions of the previous government and returning possible illegally withdrawn assets.
