<\/p>\n
It has been known for a long time that the father and two brothers of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n have business interests in the mining industry, in the production of concrete items, and also in transportation. The older brother, Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr., however, has also become involved in a company that is remarkably different from the family businesses both in terms of its activities and its ownership structure.<\/p>\n
Since last December, a company co-owned by Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr. has been the business partner of Adrere Limited, an offshore company registered on the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Adrere and the Orb\u00e1n-company are among the major shareholders of an industrial company called Yntergy Zrt., which previously had worked in distant countries. According to its business reports, Intergy had worked for LKZ, a train factory in Kazakhstan, and it had also been active in Russia\u2019s Chechnya and in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e1s Zolt\u00e1n Papp, Yntergy\u2019s CEO and shareholder, told Direkt36 that Adrere Limited is owned by \u201ca Russian individual.\u201d When asked who this person is, he said that \u201dI do not know his name exactly.\u201d He added that he does not know the individual personally but would not like to reveal his identity anyway due to Adrere\u2019s offshore nature. Papp also said that he made an agreement with the BVI company to buy its shares in Yntergy later this year.<\/p>\n
Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr. became involved in Yntergy through Gamma Analcont, a technological company, a 45 percent shareholder in Yntergy. Orb\u00e1n has been a co-owner of Gamma Analcont since January 2015. He joined the company at the request of Andr\u00e1s Zolt\u00e1n Papp, the manager and long-time co-owner of Gamma Analcont.<\/p>\n
Papp said that he had known Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr. for a long time but declined to provide details about how they had got to know each other. Papp said that he asked Orb\u00e1n to join Gamma Analcont because \u201dI wanted to have partners on whom I can rely in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
He claimed that Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr.\u2019s personal relationship to the prime minister did not matter in this business decision. \u201cI did not want to create another K\u00f6zg\u00e9p,\u201d Papp said, referring to a company that previously had been receiving lucrative public contracts reportedly thanks to its close ties to Orb\u00e1n\u2019s government. Papp also said that Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr. does not participate in the daily operations of Gamma Analcont and Yntergy.<\/p>\n
Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n Jr. did not respond to written questions.<\/p>\n
Previously, Direkt36 reported that Gamma Analcont received two European Union-funded grants after Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n had become one of its co-owners. In August 2016, the company got nearly 300 million forints (little less than 1 million euros) for a renewable energy project. Earlier that year, the firm was awarded 57 million forints (184 thousand euros) to expand its production capacities. Gamma Analcont had also got two smaller EU grants (62 million forints or 200 thousand euros in total) before Orb\u00e1n became a co-owner.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n has been a strong critic of the European Union since he returned to power in 2010. He often compared Brussels to Moscow of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Direkt36 has exposed that businesses of the Orb\u00e1n family have been secretly benefiting from public projects often financed by the European Union.<\/a><\/p>\n As for Yntergy, Andr\u00e1s Zolt\u00e1n Papp said that currently they mainly work in Hungary. The Kazakh job ended \u201caround 2013\u201d and their work in Nigeria is also over, he said. Papp added that even though their subsidiary in Chechnya is still active, their local project did not even start.<\/p>\n According to Papp, currently Yntergy\u2019s main client is GE\u2019s Hungarian enterprise. He added that they are planning to re-establish their Russian and Kazakh connections.<\/p>\n One of the flagship initiatives of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s government is to build closer economic relationships with countries of the former Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan. \u201cKazakhstan is the most important state in Central Asia for Hungary,\u201d L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Szab\u00f3, a state minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said last year.<\/p>\n Papp said that they have not yet got in touch with the government in order to become part of their programmes in the Eastern countries, but he added that they are planning to do so. This is just a plan, \u201cno concrete steps have been taken,\u201d he added. Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the National Trading House, a government agency promoting Hungarian businesses abroad, told Direkt36 that they have not been in contact with Yntergy.<\/p>\n Gamma Analcont holds 45 percent of Yntergy\u2019s shares. The firm bought the shares from Adrere Limited, which still owns 20 percent of Yntergy. The British Virgin Islands, where Adrere is registered, is one of the offshore jurisdictions where ownership records of companies are not available to the public.<\/p>\n Some Western countries and transnational organizations have made efforts to make the offshore world more transparent. In Hungary, Viktor Orb\u00e1n has been a long-time critic of the use of offshore companies and in his 2010 campaign he even promised that once he enters government he would end the \u201cera of offshore knights.\u201d<\/p>\n Gy\u0151z\u0151 Orb\u00e1n\u2019s involvement in Yntergy, however, is not the first time that a member of the Orb\u00e1n family has had connection to offshore companies. Last year, one of Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s son-in-laws, Istv\u00e1n Tiborcz, sold his ownership in a real estate company to a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands<\/a>.<\/p>\nLooking towards the East<\/h3>\n