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This article, which tells the story of the fall of Simicska\u2019s empire, is based on interviews with nearly thirty people who had insight into the oligarch\u2019s activities over 4 years. Some of them have known Simicska for decades, others held senior positions in his business empire. Most of them spoke on the condition that we do not reveal their identity. The details described in the article come directly from the participants of these events or from sources who have close knowledge about them. Simicska, who spends most of his time in a remote village, declined to be interviewed. Orb\u00e1n did not respond to our questions.<\/p>\n
I. THE OFFER<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n
Simicska was preparing to take some radical steps regarding his business empire in the days following the 2014 parliamentary elections. He decided to sell all his assets and asked his team to assess the value of his companies. His plan was to offer everything to Viktor Orb\u00e1n, effectively ending the decades-long partnership that defined Hungary\u2019s recent political history.<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n and Simicska had known each other since high school, and for a long time, they appeared to be inseparable. However, after 2010, when Fidesz came back to power with a landslide victory, their partnership became strained.<\/p>\n
With Orb\u00e1n installed as prime minister, Simicska not only directed his vast business empire \u2014 which kept growing, thanks to state-financed contracts \u2014 but also held enormous influence over the Hungarian political process. Through surrogates in high positions in ministries and state-owned companies, Simicska had a direct impact on government policies.<\/p>\n
“It looked as though Orb\u00e1n was the political prime minister and [that] there was also an operational prime minister, Simicska,” a former senior government official explained, adding that Orb\u00e1n had already decided in 2011 that he needed to end this situation.<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n also knew, however, that he had to wait. Starting an intra-party fight during his first term could jeopardize his bid for re-election.<\/p>\n
On April 7, 2014, one day after the parliamentary elections, which Fidesz again won comfortably, Orb\u00e1n and Simicska sat down for a meeting to discuss the future. The oligarch later recounted this conversation in several interviews, but Direkt36 also spoke with another source with information about the meeting. Based on these accounts, Orb\u00e1n used this 2014 April meeting to outline his plans and the role he envisioned for Simicska. This meeting accelerated the conflict between the two.<\/p>\n
The prime minister told Simicska that he would like him to close Index, one of Hungary\u2019s largest news portals. At the time, it was not widely known that few months earlier, in February 2014, Simicska had acquired an option to buy Index, making him the news outlet\u2019s effective owner.<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n also raised the possibility of buying RTL Klub, Hungary\u2019s biggest commercial television broadcaster. When Simicska said it would be far too expensive to purchase, the prime minister responded that Rosatom could buy it for him. Rosatom, a Russian state-owned nuclear company,had been hired by the Orb\u00e1n\u2019s government earlier that year, without any public tender, to build Hungary\u2019s new nuclear plant.<\/p>\n
With Orb\u00e1n\u2019s comment about Rosatom, the already tense conversation ended abruptly. Later, Simicska said that Orb\u00e1n realized that he should not have told him about the Russians\u2019 role. In his interviews in recent years, Simicska often emphasized that it was Orb\u00e1n\u2019s increasingly strong relationship with Russia, and his attacks on the democratic institutions that bothered him. According to those close to him, Simicska indeed has strong anti-Russia feelings, rooted in his anti-communism. Still, according to one of his longtime confidants, it was not only Russia\u2019s role that he disliked in Orb\u00e1n\u2019s plans. He also had problems with the prime minister\u2019s ideas because Orb\u00e1n was clearly trying to diminish Simicska\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
If Simicska had closed Index, he would have given up some of his influence, because \u2013 as one confidant put it \u2013 for him, \u201chis companies meant the power.\u201d He protested against the Russians\u2019 involvement in Orb\u00e1n\u2019s plans for similar reasons, according to the source.<\/p>\n
\u201cLajos wasn\u2019t hurt by the fact that the Russians were coming but because he would have been left out of those businesses,\u201d the source explained, adding that, as a precursor, Simicska had already been marginalized in the negotiations over the new nuclear plant (details about this in this story<\/a>).<\/p>\n As heated as their conversation was on the day after the elections, it still did not mark the end of their alliance. Orb\u00e1n and Simicska agreed to meet a week later to continue their discussion. In a 2017 interview with RTL Klub, Simicska said that it was at this meeting that he told Orb\u00e1n that as far as he was concerned, the partnership was over. According to information from Simicska\u2019s inner circle, however, he told Orb\u00e1n something else as well.<\/p>\n At the meeting, the oligarch said he would be ready to sell his whole business empire to Orb\u00e1n. Simicska later told his associates that Orb\u00e1n rejected the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cViktor told him, \u2018Lajos, there is no way that you can get out of this\u2019,\u201d recalled a source, relating what he heard from the oligarch.<\/p>\n It is not known how much Simicska wanted for his empire, but the episode highlights an important aspect of the conflict between the oligarch and Orb\u00e1n. Together they built the political and economic conglomerate known as Fidesz, and after decades of partnership, it was simply impossible to calculate how much their individual contributions were worth. Simicska, according to his confidants, felt that he invested so much work into it that he deserved a substantial payment for it. Orb\u00e1n and his inner circle saw things differently.<\/p>\n As a former member of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s team explained, \u201cthere was an agreement in Fidesz that what was created may have had Simicska\u2019s name on it, but it actually belonged to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Alas, a new phase began in the relationship of Orb\u00e1n and Simicska after that second meeting. The oligarch told several of his aides that the prime minister kept calling him during the summer, but he never picked up the phone. The two men communicated through intermediaries, but the tension kept growing.<\/p>\n One of the most important issues for Orb\u00e1n concerned the fate of media companies owned by Simicska. These outlets \u2013 newspapers, radios and a television channel \u2013 had been supporting Fidesz in the past and were considered essential parts of the governing party\u2019s political arsenal. Orb\u00e1n suggested that Simicska could keep some of the ownership while the control would be taken over by the prime minister\u2019s team.<\/p>\n Simicska rejected this offer, which further deepened the conflict. By then, the oligarch\u2019s influence had already weakened, and his people had been purged from influential state positions following the April elections. He expected further offensives, especially against his construction companies which had been awarded numerous lucrative state contracts between 2010 and 2014. Simicska figured that the prosperous times were over for his firms, so he started to prepare his lieutenants for a new era.<\/p>\n In August 2014, he summoned G\u00e1bor Bor\u00f3kai, the editor-in-chief of his news magazine Heti V\u00e1lasz to his office. Simicska told Bor\u00f3kai that a new period was coming, and they could not expect any more funding from government sources. He ordered the editor-in-chief to cut back the magazine\u2019s budget for that year and to plan 2015 with similarly limited resources. Simicska made it clear that this was needed because his relationship with the government had deteriorated to such a level that they would try to push him out from every industry he was involved in.<\/p>\n Simicska held similar meetings with other executives as well, and he took other steps to get ready for the worsening conflict. It was around this time that he told a few of his confidants about his alleged video confession.<\/p>\n He sat down with them in an office on the second floor of his headquarters, a modest-looking house in a street in the Buda hills, and said that he made a recording in which he spoke about his mutual secrets with Orb\u00e1n. \u201cI took a deep breath, sat down before the camera,\u201d Simicska said, according to a participant of the meeting.<\/p>\n Direkt36 spoke with four sources who claimed that Simicska told them about the video, but none of them actually saw the tape. They had limited knowledge of its content as well. One source said Simicska recalled an old story that had already been partly revealed, but its full details had not been uncovered yet. (It is not clear about what Simicska talked in the alleged video, but the oligarch had many controversial business dealings, especially in the 90s, and some of them involved private businesses owned by members of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s family.) Another source added that Simicska claimed to have placed copies of the recording in three different places and sent a message to Orb\u00e1n that these recordings would be made public if something happened to him. \u201cHe felt that this was a guarantee for his personal safety,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n While Simicska was taking these steps, there was growing speculation about the dramatic change in his relationship with Orb\u00e1n. During this time, neither men publicly commented on the feud. The first shots in this impending war followed not much later.<\/p>\n In January 2015, Viktor Orb\u00e1n held a meeting with executives of news outlets that had been longtime supporters of his party. Editors from Simicska\u2019s media empire were also present at the discussion which was held in one of parliament\u2019s conference rooms. While Orb\u00e1n did not specifically address his conflict with the Simicska, he did allude to it.<\/p>\n The meeting took place at a time when Fidesz was going through a crisis. Due to the mass protests against an unpopular tax proposal and a series of corruptions scandals, the government\u2019s public support had visibly dropped and critical voices in the party began to speak up. Simultaneously, Simicska\u2019s media, which had provided steady support for Orb\u00e1n in the past, had started to reposition, giving more room for voices critical of the government.<\/p>\n The January 2015 meeting at the Parliament was Orb\u00e1n\u2019s reaction to this situation. According to several sources with knowledge about the details of the event, the prime minister warned the media executives that their news outlets should not count on state advertisement revenues anymore because their owners were in a strong financial situation. This was obviously a reference to Simicska\u2019s media holdings, which in the past had received substantial state support through advertising.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n also had a more profound message, one that reflected his long-term plans with the media industry. According to one of the people present, referring to the appearance of government-critical voices, the prime minister said that \u201che sees that the media changed its position and he understands that it is more natural for journalists to take a more critical stance.\u201d Orb\u00e1n added, however, that \u201che will do everything to create a media which supports him unconditionally.\u201d<\/p>\n An event that took place a few weeks later played a key role in Orb\u00e1n\u2019s plans and also turned the hitherto largely hidden conflict between him and Simicska into open warfare.<\/p>\n On a Friday, February 6, 2015, Simicska\u2019s media conglomerate was dealt a stunning blow. Almost every leader in his media empire announced their resignation.<\/p>\n According to the press release published around noon, the heads of Magyar Nemzet, H\u00edr TV and L\u00e1nch\u00edd R\u00e1di\u00f3 stepped down, citing \u201creasons of conscience.\u201d They did not give details in the press release, but internally they claimed the decision was due to Simicska\u2019s fallout with Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n The executives\u2019 departure took Simicska \u2013 who was on his way to a foreign trip \u2013 clearly by surprise. The departure of his executives was \u201cfucking surprising,\u201d he explained to Index.hu.<\/p>\n The obscene statements continued as the oligarch, who previously stayed away from public appearances, gave interview after interview, calling Orb\u00e1n \u201cscum,\u201d referring to the former executives as \u201ctraitors,\u201d and threatening to \u201cfuckin fire those that I still have to.\u201d<\/p>\n On that February day, it was not only the profanity-laced statements that displayed the chaos unfolding in Simicska\u2019s empire. At noon, the oligarch wanted to appoint G\u00e1bor Bor\u00f3kai as the head of H\u00edr TV, but he declined. So, Simicska appointed himself. He named Csaba Schlecht, who had no experience in radio broadcasting, as the head of L\u00e1nch\u00edd R\u00e1di\u00f3..<\/p>\n However, with time, Simicska managed to get things under control. While business opportunities significantly decreased for his construction and advertisement companies due to his conflict with the government, he invested heavily in his media companies. H\u00edr TV launched new programs, Magyar Nemzet hired new journalists, and later they even developed the long-neglected online news platforms.<\/p>\n It seemed as though Simicska was serious about ousting Orb\u00e1n. Based on what he told his own people, he was partly guided by a guilty conscience. He once said that he was remorseful about \u201cletting Orb\u00e1n screw this country up.\u201d Referring to how he and Orb\u00e1n took on the Socialist Party in the 1990s and the early 2000s, then the dominant political force, he said \u201cit was necessary to learn the methods of the commies because they were strangling us.\u201d He also said that he had to do it to compete with them, \u201cbut I thought we would earn an advantage and would make a new, normal country and not a dictatorship.\u201d On other occasions, he claimed his goal was to make amends for his previous deeds.<\/p>\n The conflict also had a personal dimension that went beyond politics, which is reflected in how Simicska and Orb\u00e1n explained their dispute to a person they both spoke with after the February 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to both of them and asked what really happened, and they both said that the other went crazy,\u201d the source recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cViktor said Lajos entered areas which were out of his reach. Viktor was unable to appoint and dismiss ministers or state secretaries without him,\u201d the source said. Simicska told the source the problem was that \u201cViktor wanted everything for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n According to people in contact with Simicska in the past years, it was obvious the oligarch had a hard time processing these changes. \u201cHe was very offended,\u201d one of his company executives said, adding that this was understandable after how Orb\u00e1n tried to sideline him.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were two people working shoulder by shoulder to achieve something, and suddenly one of them tells the other that he needs less of him,\u201d the source explained. According to another source who had a longer discussion with Simicska in 2016, the oligarch looked like \u201ca cheated lover who finds out the other was unworthy of his love.\u201d The source said that at this discussion Simicska\u2019s insult and resentment \u201cwere very strongly palpable\u201d and the oligarch vowed to \u201cfix the mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n To accomplish this, he started looking for political allies.<\/p>\n In the evening hours of September 30, 2016, a small group gathered on the deck of A38, a boat venue. Just before the meeting, Magyar Nemzet hosted an event where two leading economists, Andrea Hoss\u00f3 and P\u00e9ter R\u00f3na, analyzed the current domestic and international affairs. Lajos Simicska, the owner of the newspaper, was also sitting in the audience. When the event officially ended, Simicska and some of the newspapers\u2019 staff members and invited guests stepped outside. The chain-smoking oligarch could finally light a cigarette. As they stood on the deck, Simicska shared some of his thoughts with the group.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s anti-migration campaign was already in full swing. Much to the suprise of those in attendance, Simicska said that it bothered him that no one except the Liberals dared to openly say that the only normal approach to refugees was to treat them as people and help them. When one of the people present objected that this was impossible in the current political climate, Simicska responded that he understood this, but it was still wrong. \u201cI am a Christian, and mercy and Christian values are important to me,\u201d Simicska said.<\/p>\n It was less surprising to the group what Simicska said about Orb\u00e1n. He again mentioned that he felt guilty about helping Fidesz rise to power and announced that it was impossible to negotiate with the prime minister. He had to be defeated, he said. \u201cAnd who could do it?\u201d asked someone in the group. Simicska pointed to one of those present, Jobbik leader G\u00e1bor Vona, who took the comment with a smile.<\/p>\n This was one of the few occasions when Simicska personally met with Vona. While the oligarch openly expressed his support for Jobbik several times in the past, he never formed close personal relations with the party president. According to people close to Simicska, the oligarch\u2019s support for Jobbik was not motivated by personal sympathies, but practical considerations.<\/p>\n After his fallout with Orb\u00e1n, Simicska started looking for political allies. At that time, Jobbik seemed the most natural choice. The oligarch maintained his negative feelings about the political left, especially the Democratic Coalition party led by former PM Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny, but he was impressed by Jobbik\u2019s conservatism and strength.<\/p>\n In April 2015, shortly after the open confrontation between Orb\u00e1n and Simicska, Vona\u2019s party won in the parliamentary by-election in Tapolca, a small Hungarian town in western Hungary., This made Jobbik look like the best possible challenger of Fidesz. \u201cJobbik was the sharpest knife in the drawer,\u201d a longtime confidante of Simicska said.<\/p>\n One way the oligarch could support Jobbik was by opening his media outlets to the party. However, according to the people working in Simicska\u2019s media empire, this did not mean that they had to serve Jobbik\u2019s interests. They also provided media space for new political forces such as LMP, but some Socialist party politicians were also given air time in programs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did not help them, we just treated them like other parties,\u201d an executive from Lanchid Radio said. According to this person, the media outlet gave equal coverage to both Jobbik and LMP, another opposition party. One of H\u00edr TV\u2019s senior editors commented that he asked for \u201cneutral-supporting approach\u201d from his staff not only towards Jobbik but also towards LMP. \u201cDo not attack them immediately. Of course, if there is something controversial, then yes, but let\u2019s not be the first ones,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n Simicska\u2019s advertising companies also provided a platform for collaboration with Jobbik by running the party\u2019s billboard campaigns. The negotiations over these campaigns were mostly held between executives of Simicska\u2019 companies and G\u00e1bor Szab\u00f3, Jobbik\u2019s party director and some of his colleagues. According to a person present at the negotiations, Simicska participated in some meetings, but the oligarch did not seem active in the negotiation process and did not participate in the campaign preparations.<\/p>\n \u201cSimicska\u2019s people did not have a say in our politics,\u201d a former member of Jobbik leadership said, according to whom the party would not have taken it well if Simicska wanted to have a deeper role in Jobbik\u2019s life. \u201cThe big majority, 98 percent detested Simicska. He would not have been acceptable in the party,\u201d the source said, adding that \u201cdespite the shift to become a people\u2019s party, the membership did not change.\u201d The source described Jobbik as a sort of old socialist party considering its social base and its followers as those who \u201cdo not like businessmen.\u201d<\/p>\n The formation of closer relations was also hindered by governmental attempts to cast Jobbik as a subordinate to Simicska. Fidesz\u2019s politicians called Simicska the \u201cmaster\u201d of Jobbik, and tried to label the party as his \u201clackeys.\u201d Vona knew that overly close relations with Simicska would be risky for him. To avoid any such negative fallout, Vona did not press for personal contacts with the oligarch. According to a former Jobbik leader, Vona was also aware that his movements were followed by government-linked paparazzi and considered any meetings with Simicska too dangerous.<\/p>\n At the same time, unable to form closer relations with Simicska, Vona was troubled by the fact thathe could not see the oligarch\u2019s intentions. According to a source who had been in touch with Jobbik\u2019s president, \u201cVona complained that he did not know what Simicska wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, the oligarch had no apparent political plans. \u201cLajos had no strategy,\u201d explained a Jobbik politician with close personal contacts to Simicska. All the oligarch had in mind was \u201cto give an opportunity to the opposition to show itself,\u201d the source explained.<\/p>\n Simicska\u2019s own political performance also seemed off the cuff, without any discernable strategy.<\/p>\n A political communication expert once suggested to Simicska that instead of calling Orb\u00e1n a \u201cscum,\u201d he should have shifted his position with gradual brand development. But he had always been outspoken, the oligarch responded. Simicska never did fine-tune his message, and when in the fall of 2017 he started spraying the same text (\u201cOrb\u00e1n is a scum\u201d) on his billboards, his closest aides struggled to grapple with his actions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first performance was a success, the next ones not really,\u201d one of his former colleagues said, according to whom the spraying of billboards also showed that Simicska was \u201cfrustrated that he could not do more.\u201d<\/p>\n The election battle was already in the home stretch by that point and the oligarch had no choice but to acknowledge that it was becoming increasingly difficult to reach his goals.<\/p>\n The elections were only six months away and Simicska was unhappy. On October 23, when the country remembered the 1956 revolution, H\u00edr TV broadcasted live from Jobbik\u2019s event. This was a chance for the party to show strength in the campaign, but the event only showed signs of weakness. According to reports, only a few hundred people showed up. This not only caught the attention of a gloating pro-government media, but the attention of the oligarch as well. Simicska did not even try to hide his disappointment when he met one of H\u00edr TV\u2019s senior managers after the broadcast. “He said that if they are not able to attract a crowd at the Corvin cinema, a crowd big enough to stretch to the boulevard, then it is fucked,” the source recalled.<\/p>\n One and a half months later, Jobbik had another opportunity to prove itself, but that event did not turn out to be too promising either. In mid-December, Vona called the opposition camp for a torchlight march after the State Audit Office \u2013 an institution which is nominally independent but led by a former Fidesz politician \u2013 imposed a huge fine on Jobbik, jeopardizing the party’s chances in the election. According to one of H\u00edr TV\u2019s senior managers, Simicska said in advance this time that if they can\u2019t draw a crowd of a hundred thousand, \u201cthen it is an election loss.\u201d In the end, only a few thousand showed up at Heroes\u2019 Square.<\/p>\n There is no information of Simicska directly signaling his dissatisfaction to Jobbik, but the message surely reached them. According to one of the party’s former leading politicians, longtime Simicska confidant and business associate K\u00e1roly Fony\u00f3 erupted in anger at the party\u2019s mediocre showing at a Magyar Nemzet Salon event. \u201cJobbik is unable to mobilize, to set the agenda. Jobbik doesn\u2019t do anything. Jobbik lacks buoyancy,\u201d the source recalled Fony\u00f3\u2019s criticism.<\/p>\n Of course, that the government tried everything to hinder Simicska\u2019s partnership with the party also played a role in Jobbik’s poor performance. The most spectacular example of this was the billboard law.<\/p>\n In the spring of 2017, Jobbik launched an extensive billboard campaign in which they called Orb\u00e1n and his associates thieves. These advertisements appeared on billboards owned by Simicska’s companies. The government, however, seemed determined to put a stop to it.<\/p>\n In June, Fidesz\u2019s parliamentary majority adopted a law that made such billboard campaigns impossible. Legal experts even considered the adoption of the law to be illegal, since Fidesz made the decision with a simple majority vote instead of the required two-thirds majority (which Fidesz did not have at the time). Despite the attempts of Jobbik and Simicska to get around the law, they eventually had to pull the billboards due to the state\u2019s strict action.<\/p>\n When authorities began tearing down the billboards with the help of police officers in September, Simicska issued a statement announcing that he would no longer give space for political advertisements. “The regime has entered into the path of open, manifest violence,” Simicska said. “I consider it impossible both for myself and for leaders of my companies to take any further material and personal risks”.<\/p>\n One of Simicska’s close associates at the time said the announcement was surprising because word inside the company was that “we will put those ads back up.” The associate noted, however, that for Simicska, the billboard law saga showed that Orb\u00e1n could actually mobilize the whole state machinery in order to stop him. “During the conflict, Orb\u00e1n and Simicska were constantly keeping an eye on who takes what step, and how far the other is willing to go,\u201d the source said, adding that in the case of the billboard law it was Simicska who stopped, and caved in to Orb\u00e1n\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n After that, the oligarch did not really take any further steps that would have sharpened the conflict. He made some headlines for spraying his opinion on his billboards, but he also made it clear he would not disclose any details of his shared past with Orb\u00e1n that could be destructive to the prime minister. At the end of November 2017, after one of his billboard-tagging actions, an RTL reporter asked if any information could be expected that could explode as a political “atomic bomb.” Simicska replied by asking \u201cdo you think I\u2019m suicidal?\u201d<\/p>\n This was not the first time Simicska suggested that the escalation of the conflict could pose a physical threat to him. Those close to him say he had shown signs of paranoia for years. In private conversations during his conflict with Orban, he repeatedly discussed the possibility of an accident happening to him at any time, such as getting hit by a car.<\/p>\n The oligarch\u2019s attitude towards this perceived or real risk was inconsistent. On one hand, he tried to keep up the appearance of a man unafraid of perceived threats. In the summer of 2017, for instance, while talking to a former opposition MP in his countryside estate, he said: “look around, there are no guards!” According to this MP, Simicska added that “if they want to shoot me down, they can.” But Simicska said he wasn\u2019t afraid, he didn\u2019t \u201cgive a fuck about threats.”<\/p>\n On the other hand, however, there were signs that Simicska was seriously concerned not only of his own safety, but that of his family\u2019s as well. This much was evident when he acquired the radiation detectors in the months leading up to the election. He also told multiple confidants he received threats that his family could be used to put pressure on him. One such threat was that one of his younger children could be framed for crime. Simicska mentioned this particular threat on several occasions, but he did not say where the information came from.<\/p>\n He had taken this threat seriously and, according to his staff, in 2017 he wanted to send his two younger children and wife abroad until after the election. According to a former colleague, the plan was to send family members to the United States. Simicska even entrusted one of his colleagues to enquire about the necessary procedure. The plan ultimately failed because of the oligarch\u2019s wife. “Zsuzsa didn’t want to leave, and that’s why nothing came of it,” said one of Simicska’s longtime confidants. Others noted that the wife might have been even angrier with Orban than Simicska, and she tried to fuel her husband\u2019s fury throughout the course of the conflict.<\/p>\n In the final months of the war, it seemed as though Simicska\u2019s energy was running out. Though Simicska continued to claim inside his company that he thought Jobbik would win (at the end of 2017, he explained to one of his senior managers that polls are unreliable, and he is betting on Jobbik), in more private settings he shared his doubts. He suggested, for example, that if Jobbik would not have delegates in the ballot counting committees of all polling stations, it would be a bad sign. (In the end, Jobbik had delegates in only three-quarters of the polling stations around the country, compared to Fidesz, which had multiple delegates in a number of polling stations.)<\/p>\n Inside the business empire, some noticed how passive Simicska had become on the information front. Previously, Simicska would leak sensitive information to the public using his own media or other channels, but in last year\u2019s election campaign, he did not. While many people believed that Simicska was behind those sensitive, sometimes incriminating stories of the government which were reported by Magyar Nemzet in the weeks before the election, in reality, he had little to do with them.<\/p>\n The only case in which Simicska played at least partial role in the distribution of such a material was the bizarre story of prominent Fidesz politician Lajos K\u00f3sa and his dealings with a controversial businesswoman. The first article on the case was published by Magyar Nemzet on 13 March.<\/p>\n The day before that story was published, P\u00e9ter Tarr, deputy CEO of H\u00edr TV, and Zsombor Gy\u00f6rgy, deputy editor in chief of Magyar Nemzet, were summoned to the company\u2019s headquarters in Rad\u00f3c street. There, Simicska\u2019s staff revealed documents pertaining to the K\u00f3sa story. Journalists then went through the documents with the oligarch\u2019s lawyers. The lawyers assured the journalists that the documents were authentic. According to a participant at the meeting, Simicska joined the conversation at one point, but did not say anything substantial. It was later revealed that, Simicska only played an intermediary role in this case. According to sources from Jobbik, the documents were actually acquired by a local party organization, and they were the ones who forwarded it to Simicska.<\/p>\n “So, this wasn\u2019t a case prepared by Simicska either,” one of his former colleagues explained, claiming the documents only fell into the oligarch\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n This story, and others published by his papers at the time, seemed to excite Simicska. A couple of weeks before the election, he called the editors to have one of next day\u2019s cover stories read to him on the phone before it was sent to the press. (Since he did not use a smartphone and was unable to access the Internet on his mobile, he regularly had his colleagues to read the news on the phone.) In the final days before the election, despite the chaos surrounding the opposition\u2019s side and the polls predicting a Fidesz victory, he kept telling his subordinates that the government was going to fall.<\/p>\n But the duality that was characteristic of his behavior in previous months was still present. In addition to his occasional enthusiasm, some of his steps suggested that he was aware of the expected outcome.<\/p>\n It was already after the elections that he told one of his longtime confidantes that, after it turned out that Jobbik would not have delegates in all polling stations, he started to put away copies of Magyar Nemzet. “He knew the paper will not exist for long,” the source close to Simicska explained how the oligarch was preparing for the foreseeable fall.<\/p>\n After the election, it did not take long for him to start tying up loose ends.<\/p>\n On 9 April, Monday morning, executives of Simicska\u2019s business empire gathered in the Rad\u00f3c Street headquarters. Meetings were held most frequently on Mondays, but this was a special occasion. Hungary\u2019s parliamentary elections were held the previous day, and Fidesz won another landslide victory.<\/p>\n As usual, Simicska sat behind his desk, while the others took seats on a leather sofa and two armchairs placed around a smoking table. According to one of the attendees, Simicska reacted calmly, without sadness to the developments of the previous day. He said he would activate the \u201cbad scenario,\u201d which meant Magyar Nemzet and L\u00e1nch\u00edd Radio would be closed down with immediate effect. The brief meeting ended with an agreement that the decision would be announced in the two outlets the following day.<\/p>\n At another meeting with one of his subordinates on Monday, Simicska also said \u201cit is clear that they cannot be defeated through democratic elections.\u201d<\/p>\n It was not yet clear though to what extent he planned to withdraw from the fight against Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n He told his people he would keep H\u00edr TV, but there also were more and more signs that he was preparing for a full capitulation. For instance, he didn\u2019t seem to make meaningful efforts to sell Magyar Nemzet (the broadcasting license of L\u00e1nch\u00edd Radio was going to expire anyway in October). This was in spite of the fact that in the last weeks before the elections, P\u00e9ter Ung\u00e1r, a politician of LMP, had expressed interest in buying the newspaper.<\/p>\n The oligarch\u2019s representatives negotiated with the LMP politician on April 9th, the same day Simicska announced the newspaper\u2019s closure to his own people. They wanted a price of 1.35 billion forints (4.2 million euros) for a package that not only included Magyar Nemzet, but also the soon to be closed down L\u00e1nch\u00edd Radio and Heti V\u00e1lasz, a loss-making weekly paper.<\/p>\n Ung\u00e1r thought the price and other conditions \u2013 that he would not have been allowed to shut down the print version of Magyar Nemzet \u2013 were too much. Negotiations soon became pointless. Ung\u00e1r learned about the closure from one of the newspaper\u2019s journalists. Upon hearing this, Ung\u00e1r thought that the whole negotiation was \u201ca joke\u201d.<\/p>\n Simicska did not try to help those who wanted to carry on the legacy of Magyar Nemzet. Several of the paper\u2019s journalists put together a \u201csamizdat Magyar Nemzet\u201d later that week, and in May they founded a weekly called Magyar Hang. The new editorial staff sought help from Simicska and his companies to no avail.<\/p>\n Magyar Hang told the publisher of Magyar Nemzet that they would like to purchase some of the paper\u2019s assets. The publisher sold some computers, but then they refued to sell more. Simicska\u2019s company also declined to hand over the Magyar Nemzet\u2019s subscriber database, thereby blocking the new team from building something on Magyar Nemzet\u2019s ruins.<\/p>\n At the time, negotiations about Simicska\u2019s full withdrawal from Hungarian economic life had already started. By the end of April, according to a source familiar with the details of this process, the oligarch sent a message through an intermediary to Orb\u00e1n, saying that \u201cif he can go freely, he will sell everything.\u201d<\/p>\n By early May, negotiations were already in motion.<\/p>\n In the meantime, at H\u00edr TV, the last remaining piece of Simicska\u2019s media empire, employees still believed that their future was secure. Despite ordering budget cutbacks in the weeks following the elections, Simicska told the management that he would keep the television broadcaster until at least the end of 2019 (this is when the television broadcaster\u2019s contracts with cable TV providers, that guaranteed stable income and audience, were set to expire). In the meantime, with Simicska\u2019s approval, H\u00edr Tv executives also tried to bring in foreign investors. They negotiated about some type of cooperation with Euronews (which also broadcasts in Hungarian and has an international ownership structure), in the off chance that an international collaboration would protect them from the government.<\/p>\n K\u00e1roly Fony\u00f3 contacted the international channel after the elections, saying that they \u201cwould like to secure\u201d H\u00edr TV, and considered Euronews a guarantee for this. A representative of Euronews said that, for them, the only acceptable solution is if they can become the sole owner H\u00edr TV. Fony\u00f3 \u2013 who emphasized during the meeting that he was acting on behalf of Simicska \u2013 was open to this solution, and said it was important for them that H\u00edr TV survives, that it not end up in the government\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n Discussions were still ongoing in June, parallel to negotiations concerning Simicska\u2019s capitulation. In June, Simicska told an old confidant that he felt that he did not have a choice: if he chose to keep his business interests, he would have to keep paying his people, but he would have less and less revenue. The oligarch also mentioned that Zsolt Nyerges would likely be the one to take over his companies.<\/p>\n Nyerges for years was Simicska\u2019s right hand man, managing the daily operations of the vast business empire. But Nyerges took a step back when Simicska\u2019s conflict with Orb\u00e1n escalated.<\/p>\n Nyerges, who originally came this business circle as a friend of the Orb\u00e1n family, tried to maintain good ties with both parties during the Simicska\u2013Orb\u00e1n feud. Thus, he seemed the best intermediary to handle the deal: he knew the business empire well, and he was on good terms with both parties.<\/p>\n Finally, on a Wednesday, July 4, it was announced that Nyerges would take over the Simicska family businesses. This came as a surprise for many, even in the circles close to the oligarch. Some were disappointed, as they felt that Simicska turned his back on what he had represented in the previous years. At a meeting held soon after the announcement, one of Simicska\u2019s longtime aides remarked that \u201cLajos chose money over honor.\u201d<\/p>\n The oligarch appeared to have difficulties accepting the new situation. In the days and weeks after the announcement, Simicska phoned various people saying that he wanted to undo the deal. According to those close to him, Simicska made these calls when he was drunk. As a longtime colleague of his put it, on such occasions, \u201calcohol does not make him numb, but sharp, it makes him more active.\u201d<\/p>\n These flare-ups did not result in anything, and, according to a source familiar with the details of the deal, Simicska had no choice but to step back. \u201cEverything was on paper, it was already submitted to GVH [the Hungarian Competition Authority, which had to approve the transfer of business interests], it could not have been undone,\u201d a source explained.<\/p>\n Simicska only kept one of his business interests, H\u00e1rsk\u00fati Agricultural Zrt., a family enterprise under his wife\u2019s name. The company, which only made some ten million forints of profit (10 million HUF is about 31 thouand EUR) in previous years, has a farm in H\u00e1rsk\u00fat, next to Veszpr\u00e9m, a major city in Western Hungary, with horses and other animals. The Simicska family owns a guesthouse on the main road of the silent village. They also have a private house, which resembles a modern farmhouse, a couple of kilometers from the village, far away from everything.<\/p>\n This is what remains of the former oligarch\u2019s massive business empire. We have no credible information about the amount of money Simicska received for his businesses. It is likely though that he will not face financial troubles, as he already withdrew tens of billions of forints (10 billion HUF I about 31 million EUR) in dividends in recent years.<\/p>\n He did, however, lose his political and economic influence, a massive personal change when compared to his previous status as one of the most powerful men in the country.<\/p>\n Even those close to him wonder how he will be able to deal with this. \u201cThe sense of power was an important part of his personality for thirty years,\u201d one of his ex-colleagues said. \u201cThe big question now is what he will do next.\u201d<\/p>\n Benjamin Novak contributed edits to this article.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lajos Simicska failed to craft a winning strategy and came under intense pressure from Orb\u00e1n’s political machine. At the end of his campaign the oligarch even thought that his life was in danger and even purchased radiation detectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"longform.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[423],"ppma_author":[440],"class_list":["post-5098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-simicska-lajos-tortenete","tag-longform","author-petho-andras"],"authors":[{"term_id":440,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"petho-andras","display_name":"Andr\u00e1s Peth\u0151","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/av_Peto_Andras.png","url2x":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/av_Peto_Andras.png"},"description":"[:hu]Andr\u00e1s a Direkt36 egyik alap\u00edt\u00f3ja, szerkeszt\u0151je \u00e9s \u00fcgyvezet\u0151 igazgat\u00f3ja. Kor\u00e1bban az Origo vezet\u0151 szerkeszt\u0151je volt, miel\u0151tt a port\u00e1l r\u00e9sze lett a korm\u00e1ny propagandag\u00e9pezet\u00e9nek. Andr\u00e1s dolgozott a BBC World Service-n\u00e9l Londonban \u00e9s a Washington Post t\u00e9nyfelt\u00e1r\u00f3 rovat\u00e1n\u00e1l is. R\u00e9szt vett sz\u00e1mos nagy nemzetk\u00f6zi nyomoz\u00f3 projektben, k\u00f6zt\u00fck a Panama-iratok feldolgoz\u00e1s\u00e1ban. K\u00e9tszer is elnyerte a legjobbnak \u00edt\u00e9lt t\u00e9nyfelt\u00e1r\u00f3 cikkek szerz\u0151inek j\u00e1r\u00f3 Soma-d\u00edjat. T\u00f6bbsz\u00f6r tanult \u00f6szt\u00f6nd\u00edjjal az Egyes\u00fclt \u00c1llamokban: 2008-ban a World Press Institute programj\u00e1ban, 2012-13-ban Humphrey-\u00f6szt\u00f6nd\u00edjask\u00e9nt a Marylandi Egyetemen, 2019-20-ban pedig Nieman-\u00f6szt\u00f6nd\u00edjask\u00e9nt a Harvard Egyetemen. Andr\u00e1s t\u00f6bb magyar egyetemen is tan\u00edtott \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3 kurzusokat.\r\n[:en]Andr\u00e1s is a co-founder, editor and executive director of Direkt36. Previously, he was a senior editor for leading Hungarian news site Origo before it had been transformed into the government\u2019s propaganda outlet. He also worked for the BBC World Service in London and was a reporter at the investigative unit of The Washington Post. He has contributed to several international reporting projects, including The Panama Papers. He twice won the Soma Prize, the prestigious annual award dedicated to investigative journalism in Hungary. He was a World Press Institute fellow in 2008, a Humphrey fellow at the University of Maryland in 2012\/13, and a Nieman fellow at Harvard University in 2019\/20. Andr\u00e1s has taught journalism courses at Hungarian universities.[:]","first_name":"Andr\u00e1s","last_name":"Peth\u0151","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9292,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098\/revisions\/9292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5098"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}II. DECLARATION OF WAR<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Masodikfejezet_Orban_kormanyhu.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIII. THE SHARPEST KNIFE<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Harmadikfejezet_JobbikFacebookoldala.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIV. IN PASSIVE RESISTANCE<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Negyedikfejezet_Simicska_tanyaja_Direkt36.jpg\")
<\/p>\nV. THE END GAME<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Otodikfejezet_Radocutcaiszekhaz_Direkt36.jpg\")
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