Hungarian Police Search Firm Behind Fidesz-Linked Think Tank. Payments to Wanted Foreigner Probed, Fidesz Names Romanowski

On Wednesday, Hungarian police searched buildings in Budapest belonging to the company behind the Alapjogokért Központ think tank, its accounting firm, and the last known Hungarian residence of a former foreign official who is subject to an international search. According to investigators, the publicly funded company paid him a gross fee of over 3.5 million forints a month, or around 9,600 euros, even though he did only a minimum of work for it. The police did not give a name. The media inferred it, and Fidesz wrote it in its own statement: this is Marcin Romanowski, a former Polish deputy justice minister who was granted asylum by Orbán's government. Maďarská polícia ↗ Telex ↗

What the police announced and what they did not

The investigation is being led by the international department of the Asset Recovery Office, which falls under the National Investigation Bureau (NNI). The proceedings are being conducted against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of breach of duty in managing another's property, in Hungarian hűtlen kezelés. Investigators seized contracts, invoices and payslips, copied data from the company's server and questioned witnesses. Népszava ↗

The police also attached their own video of the operation to the announcement.



The police announcement speaks only of a “former foreign official” subject to an international search. Both 444 and Telex inferred from this that it is Romanowski. Fidesz then named him directly in its statement; the authorities have not confirmed it so far. 444 ↗ 24.hu ↗

At home, Romanowski is wanted in the Justice Fund case, a fund that fell under Ziobro's ministry. Polish prosecutors have charged him in it, and a court has issued a European arrest warrant. Rzeczpospolita ↗ Wirtualna Polska ↗

An institute with one known employee

In April 2025, the Alapjogokért Központ centre founded the Hungarian-Polish Freedom Institute and put Romanowski, who then had international protection in Hungary, at its head. For establishing and running the institute in 2025, the centre received 350 million forints, roughly 960,000 euros, and the money went through the Lajos Batthyány Foundation, through which Orbán's government funded friendly organisations. According to an August investigation by the Átlátszó portal, which Wirtualna Polska has now recalled, Romanowski was the only publicly known employee of the institute, and its website then held thirteen documents in English. Átlátszó ↗ Wirtualna Polska ↗

Romanowski's asset declaration, which he files with the Polish Sejm as a member of parliament, shows that for the whole of 2025 he received 17.5 million forints from the centre. The police speak of over 3.5 million a month gross. The sources do not explain how the two figures relate. Of the institute's budget, 142 million forints were earmarked for fees under contracts, which according to Átlátszó may have gone to members of a working group whose membership is unknown. Átlátszó ↗

The centre itself received almost 3.35 billion forints in direct state subsidies over nine years, of which 2.8 billion came through secret government resolutions. At the end of August it emerged that the government of Péter Magyar is reviewing these subsidies. Telex ↗ According to Rzeczpospolita, Miklós Ligeti of the Hungarian branch of Transparency International described the centre as an example of how a seemingly civic organisation is built that in reality performs the tasks of a party. Rzeczpospolita ↗

Fidesz: “an honest wage for honest work”

Fidesz reacted sharply. It called the raid politically motivated and without a legal basis. It accused the governing Tisza party of “building neo-communist arbitrariness brick by brick” and of having placed the investigative office under political control, which, according to Fidesz, creates a political police reminiscent of the communist ÁVH. Of Romanowski it wrote that he had fled political persecution by Tusk's government, and of the Polish refugees that they “received an honest wage for honest work” for passing on knowledge and experience. Magyar Nemzet ↗

The centre, which is led by Miklós Szánthó, was more restrained. According to its statement, it has acted in accordance with the law since its founding, “and so it was in cooperation with our foreign researchers”. It is proud that it “served the interests of Hungary” and will cooperate with the authorities, because in proceedings in a state governed by the rule of law, in its view, the only thing that can emerge is that everything was in order. It has not yet answered Telex on whom exactly it means by foreign researchers. Telex ↗

The difference in framing is also sharp between newsrooms. Magyar Nemzet, a daily close to Fidesz, wrote in its headline that the NNI “struck” and quoted the party's statement at length. HVG, in its headline, speaks of a Polish former deputy minister whom the centre previously “hid” here. HVG ↗

The Polish view: where Romanowski is

For Polish media, the raid is another chapter in the search. The new Hungarian government revoked Romanowski's asylum in July, as it did for former minister Ziobro and his wife. According to 444, however, Romanowski had already left Hungary after the elections that Fidesz lost. Telex ↗ 444 ↗ In August he sent a Warsaw court a request for a safe conduct, sent from Tiraspol in Transnistria. Rzeczpospolita ↗

Read also: Romanowski contacted a Warsaw court from Transnistria

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, citing the intelligence services, says Romanowski is 99 percent likely to be in Transnistria. His defence lawyer therefore wanted the court to hear Tusk as a witness and to request information from the Polish intelligence services. On 21 September the Warsaw court rejected this as irrelevant to the proceedings on the safe conduct and on the cancellation of the European arrest warrant. Wirtualna Polska ↗

In its report on the raid, Rzeczpospolita emphasised that the police also searched the flat where the “former foreign official” lived before leaving Hungary. Rzeczpospolita ↗ Onet ↗

Limits of this perspective

This is an investigation, not an indictment: the police announced proceedings against an unknown perpetrator and did not announce charges against any specific person. Whether the pay was disproportionate to the work will be decided by the investigation and, possibly, a court. The presumption of innocence applies.

Most of the details about the institute come from newsrooms critical of Fidesz (Telex, 444, HVG) and from Polish media, some of which have a pronounced stance toward Romanowski. The data on subsidies, however, are based on documents obtained by Transparency International and the newsrooms of RTL and Átlátszó, including originally non-public government resolutions, not on anonymous sources. Fidesz claims this is a political action, and we present its argument in the party's own words. Only the outcome of the investigation can confirm or refute it.

What hotinfo is watching

Illustrative photo: Marcin Romanowski in May 2025 at the CPAC Hungary conference, whose main organiser is the Alapjogokért Központ centre. Photo: Elekes Andor, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.