In the autumn of 2014, a company selling Hungarian residency bonds received the application of three Syrian nationals: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad\u2019s moneyman, Atiya Khoury, wanted to get a residence permit for himself and his two children through Hungary\u2019s controversial Golden Visa program.<\/p>\n
Their application included not a Syrian, but a Russian address. Their application was thus handled by VolDan, a company that was authorized to sell residency bonds in Russia, confidential documents and e-mails obtained by Direkt36 reveal. These documents also proved earlier that people close \u00c1rp\u00e1d Habony, Hungarian PM Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s top advisor, were involved in the operations of <\/a>VolDan.<\/p>\n The law creating the Hungarian residency bond program, initiated by Antal Rog\u00e1n, a powerful politician of the governing Fidesz party and \u00c1rp\u00e1d Habony\u2019s long-time ally, was rushed through Parliament without substantial debate in 2012 and quickly became one of the most controversial initiatives of the Fidesz government. Under the scheme that ran between 2013 and 2017, those who invested 250-300 thousand euros in Hungarian state bonds were granted a Hungarian residence permit. Almost 20 thousand foreigners received such papers under the program.<\/p>\n According to Hungarian authorities, potential bond investors were subject to a strict security screening. However, a joint investigation by Direkt36 and 444 has revealed that people who could pose serious security risks for Hungary and the European Union were also granted residency through the programme.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n One of them was Atiya Khoury, who was put on the sanction list by the United States\u2019 Treasury Department for assisting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime in 2016. The sanction documents indicate that Khoury moves cash between Syria, Lebanon and Russia and he is responsible for human rights violations. The European Union also introduced sanctions against the Syrian\u2019s regime, but Khoury was not put on the EU sanction list.<\/p>\nWe can only do this work if we have supporters.
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