{"id":9747,"date":"2020-02-28T12:20:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T11:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/?p=5954"},"modified":"2020-02-28T12:20:31","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T11:20:31","slug":"egymilliardot-pumpaltak-at-az-orbanek-altal-epitett-balkani-mediaba-gruevszki-ellenfelei-vizsgalni-kezdtek-a-gyanus-penzmozgast-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/egymilliardot-pumpaltak-at-az-orbanek-altal-epitett-balkani-mediaba-gruevszki-ellenfelei-vizsgalni-kezdtek-a-gyanus-penzmozgast-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Egymilli\u00e1rdot pump\u00e1ltak \u00e1t az Orb\u00e1n\u00e9k \u00e1ltal \u00e9p\u00edtett balk\u00e1ni m\u00e9di\u00e1ba. Gruevszki ellenfelei vizsg\u00e1lni kezdt\u00e9k a gyan\u00fas p\u00e9nzmozg\u00e1st"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authors: Blanka Z\u00f6ldi, Andr\u00e1s Szab\u00f3 (Direkt36), Sa\u0161ka Cvetkovska (IRL, North Macedonia), Anu\u0161ka Deli\u0107 (O\u0161tro, Slovenia)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSoros organizations are trying to dismantle NATO,\u201d a website named Ripost wrote last December, based on the analysis of a pro-government Hungarian think tank. One month prior, another Ripost article quoted Hungarian PM Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who claimed that Georg Soros\u2019 dream is to flood Europe with millions of immigrants.<\/p>\n

In Hungary, officials of the governing Fidesz party make similar statements almost every day, but these articles did not appear in the Hungarian pro-government tabloid, Ripost, but in publications with the same name in Slovenia and North Macedonia. These media outlets do not only share their name and content but are also connected by one of their founders.<\/p>\n

He is Peter Schatz, a Hungarian entrepreneur, one of the key players in the foreign expansion of Hungary\u2019s pro-government media. However, Schatz\u2019s media investments in the Balkans have attracted the attention of local authorities.<\/p>\n

In North Macedonia, the Financial Police Office, a body within the Ministry of Finance, investigated wires totaling over 3 million euros, which were transferred between Slovenian and North-Macedonian companies of Schatz. A joint investigation of Hungarian Direkt36, IRL Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia and Slovenian Ostro revealed details about the case.<\/p>\n

According to a document summarising the financial police\u2019s findings, transactions were problematic for two reasons. First, the transactions were based on \u201csuspicious invoices,\u201d which do not represent real activities on the market. Authorities also suspect that the transferred money comes from \u201csuspicious origin\u201d and was used for media financing in North Macedonia.<\/p>\n

This \u201cleads to the existence of elements of the criminal act of money laundering,\u201d the Financial Police concluded. According to the law in North Macedonia, investigations into money laundering can be launched in cases when large amounts of money is being transferred for unclear reasons, even if there is no indication that the origin of the funds is criminal.<\/p>\n

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The Financial Police Office is a body within the Ministry of Finance of North Macedonia. It was created in 2003 to investigate financial crimes, corruption and money laundering. The authority launched its investigation into Hungarian-financed media after Nikola Gruevski, Hungarian PM Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s longtime ally lost power.<\/p>\n

North Macedonia\u2019s Prosecutor’s Office was informed about the findings of the financial police investigation in August 2019, but the office has not yet opened an investigation, according to the financial police. Prosecutors confirmed they were aware of the case but declined to comment further. Neither the Hungarian police, nor P\u00e9ter Schatz reacted to our questions, while the Metropolitan Chief Prosecution Office in Hungary said that it had not been aware of the case.<\/p>\n

Friends in the Balkans<\/h2>\n

Outlets that uncritically convey Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s messages, supported by advertising purchases by the state, have long dominated Hungary\u2019s media environment. Years of small steps toward building a centralized propaganda machine culminated in the creation of the Central European Press and Media Foundation in 2018, which now controls over 100 pro-government media outlets, according to a report by a group of press freedom organizations.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, pro-Orb\u00e1n media tycoons were looking beyond their own borders into the former Yugoslavia and the wider Balkan region.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2017, people close to the Hungarian government, including Schatz, purchased and established newspapers, websites, and television stations in those countries where Orb\u00e1n\u2019s allies were in difficult situations: in North Macedonia and Slovenia.<\/p>\n

North Macedonia had been led by Nikola Gruevski for a decade. In 2015, it was revealed that thousands of telephone conversations had been illegally intercepted under Gruevski\u2019s government. Gruevski was accused of corruption on several charges. However, he could keep counting on Ob\u00e1n\u2019s support, who has long shared his anti-immigrant sentiment and policies.<\/p>\n

The Hungarian media investors arrived in North Macedonia at a desperate time for Gruevski and his party, VMRO \u2014 as well as VMRO-friendly media outlets. Anti-corruption protests had recently swept the country, while government-backed advertising dried up after Gruevski stepped down as prime minister in 2016.<\/p>\n

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Viktor Orb\u00e1n and Nikola Gruevski in November 2015. Photo: Bot\u00e1r Gergely<\/p><\/div>\n

In Slovenia, it is the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) led by Janez Jan\u0161a, which shares similar conservative, anti-immigration views with the Hungarian leader. Jan\u0161a served as Slovenia\u2019s prime minister between 2012 and 2013, and since then he has remained on the political stage as the leader of the biggest opposition party. In preparation for the parliamentary elections in 2018, Orban personally supported Jan\u0161a\u2019s campaign. \u201cI can be your lucky talisman\u201d, Orb\u00e1n said at an SDS congress in 2017.<\/p>\n

Viktor Orb\u00e1n’s goal is to make Hungary an important player in the Balkans, and the government is “trying to gain influence and make friends\u201d in the region, a source familiar with the government\u2019s strategy told Direkt36. Orb\u00e1n is not only rhetorically committed to supporting his allies in the region, but also offers them significant political help through the media investments of Hungarian businessmen close to the government. Media purchases are favorable options because they are not subject to party funding rules, the source added.<\/p>\n

Hungarian businessman P\u00e9ter Schatz has been playing an important role in the Balkan expansion of Hungary\u2019s pro-government media. In the 1990s, Schatz used to be the commercial director of Hungary\u2019s popular Danubius Radio, then \u2013 after a few detours \u2013 he worked for the country\u2019s public television between 2006 and 2012. In 2015, he became the co-owner of Ripost, a pro-government tabloid launched at that time.<\/p>\n

Schatz started to invest in the Balkan region in March 2017. In Slovenia, he became the business partner of \u00c1rp\u00e1d Habony, advisor of Orb\u00e1n, as they both acquired stakes in a company that runs Nova24 TV. Schatz also founded Ripost zalo\u017eni\u0161tvo (later renamed R-POST-R), a company that became the majority owner of SDS\u2019s own publishing company Nova obzorja which publishes the right-wing mainstay weekly newspaper Demokracija, as well as a newer tabloid paper.<\/p>\n

At the time of his Slovenian purchases, Schatz also established Target Media Group, a consulting firm in Skopje, and acquired a stake in a company that operated the pro-Gruevski Alfa TV. In mid-2017, he launched his Macedonian news site, Ripostmk.com.<\/p>\n

Olive oil and crystal-encrusted mugs<\/h2>\n

The media outlets in the Balkans are not only connected by Schatz, but also a high value contract advertising contract.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n