He is the head of the Hungarian intelligence service, but according to the Americans, he created a corrupt state system. Antal Rogan, one of the main advisors of the Prime Minister of Hungary and a member of his government, was sanctioned by the United States. Hungarians criticize this decision, but will wait for the reaction of the new American administration.
According to the Americans, he plays a key role in building the oligarchic system in Hungary, and as it happens, he also plays a key role in the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
– People closely associated with the ruling political party have acquired huge holding empires. David Pressman, the US ambassador to Hungary, says Antal Rogan is the architect, executor and main beneficiary of this corrupt system.
Antal Rogan is under US sanctions. This is a rare case because the politician is a serving minister of a country that is an ally of the United States. The decision was not easy, but, as the US Treasury explains, it had to be made.
“Corruption in the public sector in Hungary has worsened for more than a decade, as a result of which, for the second year in a row, Hungary received the lowest score among all EU member states in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index,” the ministry said. . said in the statement.
Visit of Viktor Orbán to Vienna. He takes a photo with the speaker of the lower house of the Austrian parliament, Walter Rosenkranz.
“He used his position and power”
This result, which places Hungary in the first place among the most corrupt countries in the Community, is the result of very specific and deliberate actions. And they are not conducive to democracy or to citizens – certainly those who are not politically connected.
– Minister Rogan enriched himself and people loyal to his political party. The US ambassador to Hungary insists that he has used his position and power for personal gain, depriving his country and its citizens of important financial resources, while weakening the institutions necessary for a strong democracy.
SEE ALSO: Clear “signal” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The Hungarian ambassador is not welcome”
Rogan has a strong position in the power structures, which – according to the accusation of his Western partner, he takes advantage of all this. Moreover, there are suspicions that he is responsible for the smear campaign against the Hungarian opposition, which is all using the secret services.
– It is the coordination of communications policy and interesting, but not so surprising as the issues related to secret services, – notes Professor Makey Kisilovsky from the Central European University in Vienna.
“You’ve had 15 years to fix this country.” Hungarian opposition leader throws down political gauntlet to Orbán Jakub Loska/Fakty o Świecie TVN24 BiS
Who is Antal Rogan?
Rogan is currently Minister-in-Charge of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office and also oversees the National Communications Authority, the Digital Government Agency and the Hungarian Tourism Agency. In addition, he has been a member of parliament since the late 1990s and until recently was the leader of the ruling Fidesz club.
The sanctions against Rogan would mean freezing the assets he has accumulated and any interest in assets he has accumulated in the United States. American citizens are also prohibited from doing any business with the politician.
READ ALSO: Hungary will lose more than one billion euros. The first such case in history
– This puts Antal Rogan in a company that also includes Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov. The US Congress created this opportunity to punish people who pose a particular threat to America’s international interests, foreign policy expert Botond Feledi notes.
We are talking about the law named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in a Moscow prison. The law, which was adopted in 2016 under Barack Obama, became a global scourge for the regimes and their representative oligarchs.
– This clearly shows that Viktor Orbán and his apparatus on the liberal-democratic side are only compatible with regimes like Vladimir Putin’s now, – Professor Makey Kisilovsky notes.
Sanctions can be lifted. In less than two weeks, Donald Trump, whose biggest European ally is Viktor Orbán, will take over the US administration.
Facts about the world TVN24 BiS
Main photo source: Reuters
