Hungarian customs authorities had all the necessary documents and had approved Ukraine’s Oschadbank cash and gold transit in advance, before the convoy was stopped and detained by Hungary’s anti-terrorism police, bank employees and officials said.
For the first time since the incident on 5 March, a member of the cash-in-transit team revealed more details about what happened that day on the Budapest ring road.
Speaking in Kyiv on Tuesday alongside Oschadbank Chairman of the Board Yurii Katsion, Hennadiy Kuznetsov said the trip was prepared and executed in the “routine” way.
At the first press conference organised by the state-owned Oschadbank since the incident, Kuznetsov said the team collected the valuables from Raiffeisen Bank in Vienna on the morning of 5 March and set off on their route.
He said the transportation was prepared thoroughly, both in terms of logistics and in acquiring the relevant international documents for the cross-country trip.
“This cargo was cleared through customs in Vienna by the relevant specialists from the Austrian customs service, and we were travelling through Hungarian territory purely in transit,” Kuznetsov said.
No stops were planned on Hungarian territory during this transit, he stated, adding that the relevant Hungarian customs authorities at the Chop-Zagon checkpoint on the border between Ukraine and Hungary were notified in advance of the cash-in-transit team’s arrival at a specific time, and copies of the relevant documents were provided to them.
“They processed these documents and provided us with approval, including a code,” Kuznetsov said.
The route was monitored by the relevant services of Ukraine’s Oschadbank, and there were no deviations.
The Oschadbank team in Kyiv noticed that the cash-in-transit team was stopped at a location where it was not supposed to, which led them to believe something had not gone according to plan. They then contacted Ukrainian diplomatic representatives in Hungary alarmed by the missing status of the armoured vehicle.
What happened after was a mix of intimidation and hardball tactics according to Ukraine.
How the team and the valuables were detained
While driving along the ring road in Budapest, a Hungarian police car pulled up in front of the Ukrainian team and flashed its red light, asking the convoy to follow them.
Kuznetsov said checks by the relevant Hungarian law enforcement and customs authorities were “standard practice during our journey” so they team didn’t think of it initially before the situation abruptly changed.
At the police officer’s request, he provided the necessary documents, before a Hungarian police officer returned to the vehicle with the papers for further checks.
Then the vehicle was “forcefully” seized.
“Our two vehicles were blocked by armoured vehicles from the anti-terrorist unit. All kinds of weaponry, flashing lights,” Kuznetsov said.
As they got out of the car “they immediately put handcuffs on us, put bags over some people’s heads and balaclavas on others. No procedural formalities were observed during the arrest. The only question asked was: ‘Where, where are your weapons?”
Kuznetsov said his team had no weapons on them, and each member was taken to a separate vehicle and driven to the premises of the Anti-Terrorist Centre in Budapest.
Staff were placed in separate rooms where Kuznetsov said they were “subjected to interrogations for more than 24 hours.”
“No investigative actions were carried out either during the arrest or whilst we were actually at the Anti-Terrorist Centre. When we requested consular support and legal representation, we were told that the consul had refused to assist us, would not be coming, and that they could not find any lawyers.”
He they were in handcuffs exceeded 28 hours by the time it was done. The Oschadbank team were not provided with a Ukrainian interpreter, only a Russian-speaking one.
‘Forced injection’
Once in custody, representatives of the investigative bodies of the Hungarian customs service came to “question witnesses”.
“When I asked “How can a witness be in handcuffs and a balaclava?”, they replied. “That is not within our remit.”
Kuznetsov said he refused to be questioned in those conditions and that’s when Hungarian authorities said he would have to undergo “a compulsory medical procedure”.
He was then taken to the hospital.
“One injection was administered, and then another intravenous injection was given directly at the hospital. After that, I was taken back for questioning”.
He said after these injections, he felt “unwell” during the questioning, and the law enforcement officers took him back to a hospital where he was put on a drip.
Kuznetsov stayed at the hospital until his return to Ukraine. He said that during the detention his colleagues were subjected to “moral and psychological pressure, and beatings”.
“It’s not at all clear what exactly they wanted from the team. Because if they had questions regarding the legality of the cargo, the answer to that would take five minutes”, he insisted, referring to the official papers the team had with them.
Upon their return to Ukraine, the Oschadbank team underwent a forensic medical examination.
“During this examination, the presence of certain substances was established,” Kuznetsov said as he had not been given any information by the Hungarian law enforcement about the nature of the administered injections.
“I was told that blood samples were taken for analysis.”
He did not provide further details about the test result, and the substance was given to him due to the ongoing investigation.
Investigation continues, gold and cash kept in Hungary
One week after seizing the transit, Hungary returned the two armoured bank vehicles to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Oschadbank’s chairman of the board Katsion said the cars had their wires of the internal surveillance system cut. The hard drives from the video surveillance system were also removed from the vehicles, according to the Ukrainian bank.
The GPS tracking systems remained in place, so “the route and the parking locations of the cars — all of that has been preserved,” according to the bank.
The valuables carried by Oschadbank — $40 million, another €35 million, and 9 kilograms of gold — are still in Hungary.
Ukraine’s National Bank (NBU) earlier told Euronews that it had initiated “an independent international audit into the processes and contractual relations of all those involved in the foreign exchange’s transit.”
The NBU appealed to the management of the European Central Bank, the Austrian Central Bank, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets (DG FISMA), the office of EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, and others for assistance.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ordered the government to hold cash and gold seized from a Ukrainian bank for up to 60 days amid an ongoing investigation.
Budapest linked the shipment’s detention to suspicions of money laundering.
Hungarian Transport Minister János Lázár claimed that the government has evidence of Ukraine funding the opposition Tisza Party, which is leading Orbán’s Fidesz in polls ahead of the April elections.