Head of anti-corruption authority officially charged with embezzlement and other offenses

Ferenc Pál Biró, head of the Integrity Authority (IH), an anti-corruption body, has been charged with embezzlement and other criminal offenses. According to the indictment, Biró, among other things, leased two cars on the IH’s account, one of which his wife used for personal purposes, and he also restricted the authority of the other two board members. Furthermore, he hired a family acquaintance for a monthly salary of 2 million HUFs (5632 EURs) and commissioned a foreign-based company to establish and operate the authority’s representative office in Brussels, even though he was not authorized to do so. Biró has previously denied all charges, while the president of the State Audit Office and the Tisza government has so far remained silent on the matter.

In early 2025, the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office questioned Ferenc Biró, president of the Integrity Authority, on suspicion of embezzlement and abuse of office. The prosecutor’s office launched a major investigation into Bíró’s Authority at the time, but no news of it came out for months, and no charges were filed until after the 2026 elections.

According to a press release on the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office website, Ferenc Pál Biró, the president of the Integrity Authority, was indicted on June 5, 2026, in a case involving embezzlement and other offenses. Biró and his wife are suspected of the following crimes: After the Integrity Authority provided Biró with a company car and two drivers, he continued to use IH funds to pay for the leasing of a luxury SUV. However, the car was allegedly not used by him, but by his wife (who was not employed by the IH), who not only used it without authorization but also bought fuel for it at the IH’s expense. This alleged misuse of the Authority’s budget resulted in approximately 21 million HUF (59,000 EUR) in additional costs.

Alleged misuse of budget

Biró stated that the IH leases 20 cars, two of which are assigned to his deputies and one to him. There has never been a case where the agency leased a car to someone who is not on its staff. He added, however, that senior executives’ cars may also be used by their families. For example, his wife used his personal car to go shopping.

The indictment also states that Bíró abused his office to prevent the other two members of the board from exercising their legal rights, restricted certain powers of theirs in violation of the law, while exercising his public authority in an arbitrary manner.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the president of the IH also signed three contracts with a Brussels-based consulting firm, which were incompatible with the agency’s official duties. The contracts were related to the establishment of a diplomatic mission that the president planned to set up in Brussels, which the IH was allegedly not authorized to do so. This is because, according to the relevant law, only the state of Hungary can establish diplomatic missions.

“In the course of fulfilling the contracts, the Integrity Authority paid a total of more than 100 million HUFs (281,5 thousand EUR) to the foreign firm for lobbying and communications services, unnecessarily,”

reads the prosecutor’s office’s statement.

The indictment also alleges that the president entered into a fictitious lease agreement on behalf of the authority for the consulting firm’s address in Brussels, even though there was never actually an office there.

1.5 million for personal use, 11 million for a family friend

The president of the Integrity Authority was entitled to a daily allowance during his foreign assignments, including reimbursement for meal expenses. According to the prosecutor’s office, Biró collected the amount to which he was legally entitled, but at the same time spent 1.5 million HUFs (4224 EUR) on his own needs using the debit card provided to him by the Authority, thereby causing financial loss to the Authority.

In addition to the above,

in 2024, the president allegedly hired a family friend while being fully aware that the man did not possess the necessary qualifications for the position,

and that his employment was incompatible with the duties of the Integrity Authority.

According to the indictment, Bíró planned to launch a so-called Integrity Academy, where the man in question would lecture in esoteric topics, including a course entitled “The traditional and modern interpretations of death and their connections to existential corruption. Existence after death and the restoration of integrity.”

The man’s employment was eventually terminated after a mandatory audit, which found details about him that could pose risks to national security.

In total, according to the prosecution, Biró caused financial losses exceeding 140 million HUFs (394,000 EURs) to the Integrity Authority.

On June 5th, the prosecution filed charges of abuse of office, forgery of public documents, and embezzlement resulting in particularly significant financial loss.

The Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office recommended that the court sentence the president to imprisonment and a fine. In the indictment – regarding the use of a vehicle and credit card payments through which the defendant personally enriched himself – prosecutors also moved for the forfeiture of 23 million HUFs (64,770 EURs) in assets.

With regard to the use of the vehicle lease issue, the prosecution moved to impose a suspended prison sentence and a fine on the defendant, who committed the crime as an accomplice.

State Audit Office “weighs in,” while the government remains silent

The Integrity Authority was established by the previous Fidesz government after pressure from the European Commission over the corrupt spending of EU funds. According to the law introduced at the time, the IH’s President and Vice President are selected by the President of the State Audit Office (ÁSZ), and officially appointed by the President of Hungary. The President of the ÁSZ also has the power to initiate an administrative lawsuit to terminate the IH heads’ employment if “the conditions for the appointment no longer exist.”

If such a lawsuit is initiated, the Budapest Metropolitan Court must rule within 30 days – regardless of the outcome of any other proceedings involving the IH president, such as the ongoing criminal case.

To date, László Windisch, the president of the ÁSZ, has not filed a lawsuit to dismiss Biró. However, last summer the office stated that “if new information relevant to the filing of a lawsuit comes to light in the future, the president of the ÁSZ will reconsider the possibility of filing a lawsuit.”

In late April, we asked whether charges filed against the IH’s President could constitute “relevant information” for a lawsuit. The ÁSZ replied that if charges were to be filed against Bíró, it “would clearly constitute a new fact on the basis of which the President of the ÁSZ would have to reconsider initiating court proceedings aimed at terminating the legal status of the President of the Integrity Authority.” They then listed 29 criminal offenses that could lead to Bíró’s dismissal, including offenses related to corruption and abuse of office.

After Bíró was officially charged on the 5th of June, we once again asked ÁSZ about his potential dismissal.

The Office once again replied that the charges “prompted the president of the State Audit Office to reconsider filing a lawsuit.” However, so far, no such steps were taken.

We also contacted the Tisza government regarding the matter. After taking office, Prime Minister Péter Magyar called on several key officials appointed by the previous regime to resign, such as members of the Constitutional Court, the heads of the state media company, and President Tamás Sulyok. Notably, Magyar did not mention Bíró.

We asked the government if the indictment has changed their minds about Bíró’s resignation, but as of the publication of this article, they have not responded.

“Not necessary to investigate”

Incidentally, the State Audit Office has never investigated the Integrity Authority since its inception, nor did it plan to do so this year. This is despite the ongoing proceedings against Biró and the issues reported by the Eligibility Committee (Alkalmassági Bizottság; a review committee appointed by the Economic Ministry’s EUTAF to provide feedback on the IH’s work).

Replying to our questions, the ÁSZ wrote that one of the most serious consequences of a State Audit Office investigation could be the filing of a criminal complaint, and since the investigative prosecutor’s office is already conducting a criminal investigation regarding the IH’s financial management, an ÁSZ audit would be redundant.

“The same can be said regarding the Eligibility Committee’s review. The Eligibility Committee analyzes, audits, and evaluates the IH’s work in accordance with the law. The ÁSZ has no legal obligation to do so. Since it can be established that the Eligibility Committee is properly fulfilling its task of evaluating the IH, the ÁSZ does not see any risk that would require it to include the evaluation of the IH’s professional activities in its annual audit plan,” the State Audit Office said.

Bíró denies accusations

In early 2025, Ferenc Biró stated that the allegations of embezzlement and abuse of office were baseless, and he filed a complaint against them. In his view, the prosecution’s proceedings were a direct attack on him personally, and were intended to undermine the Integrity Authority.

The IH president also recently gave a lengthy interview to the DE! Action Group (an activist group that, among other things, organized volunteers to prevent election fraud in the April 12 national elections), in which he claimed that the previous Orbán government tried to pressure him and attempted to prevent him from doing his job. Then, when they could neither bribe nor intimidate him, they attacked his family and launched a politically motivated investigation against him.

Following the publication of our original article, Ferenc Biró issued a statement in which he wrote that he considers the charges to be completely unfounded, and expressed confidence that his innocence will be established during the court proceedings. Biró also wrote that “I find the timing of the case particularly telling: all of this happened after the first previews of my interview with the DE! Action Group, which caused quite a stir and in which I discussed the past few years’ major public money sink schemes, pointing out connections that some would have preferred to keep hidden.”

It is worth noting that the interview was published on June 7, two days after the indictment. Moreover, Biró must have been aware that the indictment was imminent, as the investigation (which had been ongoing for a year) was concluded in April, and the pleadings and motions for evidence (for which the parties had 30 days) had already been submitted on May 19 and 22, 2026.