Hungary returns seized Ukrainian bank vehicles, withholds cash and gold
The Straits Times
BUDAPEST, March 12 - Hungary returned two seized armoured bank vehicles to Ukraine on Thursday but withheld cash and gold worth approximately $82 million, citing an investigation into alleged money laundering, a move that Kyiv has denounced as theft. Read more at straitstimes.com.
BUDAPEST, March 12 - Hungary returned two seized armoured bank vehicles to Ukraine on Thursday but withheld cash and gold worth approximately $82 million, citing an investigation into alleged money laundering, a move that Kyiv has denounced as theft.
Relations between Hungary and Ukraine, already strained by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's close ties to Russia, reached a new low last week when Hungary detained seven Ukrainians transporting cash and gold.
Kyiv accused Budapest of taking the bank employees, engaged in a legitimate transfer, hostage in order to pressure Ukraine into restarting suspended oil shipments.
Those detained were expelled by Hungary and crossed into Ukraine on Friday.
Ukraine has demanded the return of the seized assets, with Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Sunday describing Hungary's actions as an "unprecedented act of state banditism and racketeering".
The detainees' lawyer, Lorant Horvath, told reporters on Thursday that the Ukrainian bank believed the money transport was "entirely lawful".
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