The investigation into the Center for Fundamental Rights leads into the innermost circles of Fidesz

The Center for Fundamental Rights, known internationally for organizing the Hungarian events of CPAC, is a subject of multiple criminal investigations. The organization, registered in Hungary as a non-profit, received billions of HUFs in public funds to organize an international network led by the former ruling party Fidesz.

Police investigations targeting the Center for Fundamental Rights (Alapjogokért Központ, AK) include a case Atlatszo exposed this summer: In 2025, AK received 350 million forints (over EUR 1 million) in public funds, which it used to create an institution supposedly to research subjects related to Poland.

The Polish–Hungarian Institute for Freedom provided work for Marcin Romanowski, a Polish politician who fled to Hungary to escape corruption charges in his home country.

Although the so-called institute was, on paper, paid to publish books, organize public events, and hire staff members, we found no evidence that it undertook any such activities. In the meantime, Romanowski earned tens of thousands of Euros for what seemed to be a minimal amount of work, including writing posts for his own Substack blog (which, at the time of this article’s publication, had only 11 subscribers).

The trio at the helm of AK – founder Miklós Szánthó, chief operating officer Péter Törcsi, and chief strategy officer István Kovács – emerged from a right-wing group that included several prominent Fidesz figures. According to our information, their intention was to create a stable of high-profile pro-Fidesz analysts and commentators that would promote the party’s messages to the public and counter values-based NGOs sometimes criticizing former PM Viktor Orbán, such as the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Transparency International.

Initially, they attempted to achieve this goal with the support of the Fidesz party foundation – a fact that was exposed in 2015 by Atlatszo.

In 2021, we also revealed that the Orbán government had begun using public funds to support the AK. Over the years, the Batthyány Lajos Foundation (BLA), which was transformed into a major grantmaker channeling public funds to Fidesz allies, funneled over 24 billion forints (35,4 million euros) to the company operating AK, Jogállam és Igazságosság Nkft.

This constituted almost half of the funds handed out by the BLA: every year, the group was provided with a reliable sum of public funds worth several millions of euros to continue operating.

For Fidesz, the AK served two goals: its “analysts” often appeared in Hungarian media, agreeing with every policy of the Orbán government. Further, the group paid a central role in Fidesz’s attempts to build an international alliance of illiberal forces, which included Poland’s PiS.

In 2025, the Polish state television’s investigation (aided by Atlatszo reporter Marton Sarkadi Nagy) revealed that Romanowski was living in a Budapest apartment owned by the Párkai brothers. Dávid and Dániel Párkai are connected to Viktor Orbán’s government and AK via several ties.

Dániel is a founder of the Oeconomus foundation, a group which also received millions of euros from the BLA. Oeconomus’s board of trustees also includes Péter Törcsi, a former member of the youth wing of KDNP, a Christian Democratic party allied with Fidesz, and a research director of the AK.

The Párkai brothers owned multiple apartments in the same building where Romanowski stayed. One of the apartments was the official address of Beceptum Kft, a consulting firm also affiliated with Péter Törcsi, as well as Zoltán Martonyi, son of the former Fidesz minister for foreign affairs, János Martonyi. Beceptum Kft. is also partially owned by Tobias Zech, a former politician of Germany’s CDU, who was forced to retire from politics after being revealed as a lobbyist of Nikola Gruevski, former Prime Minister of North Macedonia.

Like Romanowski, Gruevski also fled to Hungary to escape corruption charges in his country.

Dániel Párkai’s brother Dávid was previously employed by Fidesz’s parliamentary faction and has ties to a company, Patr-event Kft., which received hundreds of millions of HUFs in public funding from the National Cultural Fund (NKA) – this fund is also a subject of a corruption investigation. Its head Balázs Hankó was taken into custody in October 2026.

Párkai’s ties with AK go back even further, as his real estate company was involved in the Center’s purchase of an expensive mansion, which to this day serve as its official headquarters.

The AK was also instrumental in strengthening Viktor Orbán’s ties with the American right-wing, organizing the Hungarian events of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). They developed further ties in Poland as well, allying with the advocacy organization Ordo Iuris.

The ongoing probe, initiated by the new Hungarian government, strikes at the heart of Viktor Orbán’s international alliance as well as Fidesz’s innermost circles. The fact that in early October, the Prime Minister’s Office also filed a criminal report in a separate case against the Center suggests that there is a real political will to investigate these networks.