Prime Minister’s son- in-law passes valuable property to Jordanian buyer

The Prime Minister’s son-in-law is having some hectic days as his real estate business is drawing increasing attention. This time the story involves the acquisition of a valuable Budapest real estate asset, which was sold off to a Jordanian man to build a luxury hotel. The buyer appears to have successfully nurtured good relations with the Hungarian diplomatic service.

As of late, Atlatszo.hu has devoted extensive attention to the dealings of Istvan Tiborcz, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s son-in-law. Having recently moved on from his business interests which were linked to numerous successful public procurements contracts, he started dabbling in real estate investment through his network of companies.

One of firms, AMX Nador House, recently acquired a legacy building in downtown Budapest. As we reported in the latest instalment of our coverage (link) the wealthy Turkish businessman Adnan Polat is also involved in this company group.

However, in mid-March, the companies owning the asset in question, a former bank headquarters building, got a new owner, namely Ammar M. A. Abu Namous and his Pharaon companies. As company records show, the Jordanian man’s firm was founded in Hungary at around the same time as Tiborcz started setting up his own property-focused business network in 2015.

Ammar M. A. Abu Namous is a member of the supervisory board at the Bank of Jordan and is also one of the beneficiaries of the Hungarian government’s efforts of the past few years to open up to the east in a drive to diversify its foreign markets. His companies are registered at the address of the Jordanian consulate’s residence in Budapest.

It appears that Namous is planning to convert his newly bought asset into a luxury hotel. Hungarian media outlets have already criticized the project, since it involved cutting down trees in downtown Budapest and also expelling a shelter for homeless women from the site.

Original article in Hungarian