The authorities have moved to have György Matolcsy remanded in custody, Telex reported on Wednesday afternoon. The former central bank governor was questioned at the Central Investigation Prosecutor's Office on suspicion of the criminal offence of economic fraud and the misdemeanour of using a forged private document.
Pál Bátki, the former central bank governor’s lawyer, informed Telex that during the questioning, the investigating prosecutors summarised the circumstances on which the suspicion is based and moved for the remand in custody of his client.
He added that György Matolcsy’s questioning as a suspect concluded shortly after half past three in the afternoon. During the several-hour-long questioning, his client did not make a statement and spoke only about his personal circumstances, he added. “It was very difficult to process this five-page indictment containing a great deal of data. Until we see what evidence forms the basis of it, we are unable to respond to it,” the defence lawyer said.
György Matolcsy was transferred from the Central Investigation Prosecutor’s Office to a police detention facility. The court is expected to rule on his remand in custody on Friday, the news portal reported.
The former central bank governor was taken into custody on Wednesday morning by staff of the Central Investigation Prosecutor’s Office. György Matolcsy is suspected of the criminal offence of economic fraud and the misdemeanour of using a forged private document.
The Central Investigation Chief Prosecution Office announced on Wednesday that it is carrying out coordinated “investigative actions” in the ongoing investigation into the so-called MNB case, concerning the criminal offence of breach of fiduciary duty causing particularly significant financial harm.
A complaint was filed with the prosecution by the State Audit Office alongside the current leadership of the central bank in connection with the MNB foundations, in parallel with the ÁSZ report published in March 2025, which examined the operations of the central bank, the Pallas Athéné foundations it established, and the Foundation for the University of János Neumann. On 21 March 2025, the National Investigation Bureau of the Ready Reserve Police launched an investigation into the case, which on 21 April 2026 was brought under prosecutorial jurisdiction by the Supreme Prosecution Office. The proceedings are being conducted by the Central Investigation Chief Prosecution Office (KNYF).
Optima Befektetési Zrt., the asset manager of the Pallas Athéné foundations (PADME) — established in 2014 by the central bank led by György Matolcsy and merged in 2019 — managed nearly 500 billion forints of public funds. Its operations, conducted through an opaque corporate and investment structure which, according to the ÁSZ, raised suspicions of criminal activity, caused losses of approximately 150 billion forints, a portion of which ended up in the circle around György Matolcsy’s son, Ádám Matolcsy, while PADME and Optima were pushed to the brink of insolvency.
On 26 May 2026, the National Assembly adopted a resolution on the establishment of an investigative committee to uncover abuses related to the operations of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), stipulating that the committee would prepare a report on its activities by 31 December, to be published on the National Assembly’s website.
The next development in the case was a search carried out on 28 May 2026 at multiple locations with the involvement of the Central Investigation Chief Prosecutor’s Office and several partner agencies. The following day, the National Bureau of Investigation of the Ready Reserve Police (KR NNI) announced at a background briefing that, based on earlier reports by the State Audit Office (ÁSZ), an investigation had been ongoing since April 2025 along two lines: one concerning suspected breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the central bank foundations and the renovation of the MNB building, and the other concerning suspected money laundering.
By that point, investigators had seized cash and securities worth 91.8 billion forints; the investigation had implicated 97 private individuals, 36 companies, and 11 private equity funds, and significant quantities of documents and electronic data carriers had been seized at all locations. Proceedings in the money laundering case were ordered on 22 April 2025, and the day after they were initiated, 506.2 million forints in account money were seized from four private individuals; on 9 May, securities accounts worth 80.8 billion forints were frozen. In total, approximately 92 billion forints in cash, securities, and account money were seized in several stages.
On 13 August 2026, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) handed over to the prosecution the documents and information available in connection with the securities lending transaction attempted during the tenure of the previous central bank leadership, between the Optima group and the Quartz group. In the final days before the change of the central bank governor, the foundation leadership linked to the previous MNB leadership attempted to withdraw a significant portion of the assets of the PADME Foundation from the control of Optima in order to transfer them to Quartz Alapkezelő. The transaction was blocked by the new central bank and foundation leadership, which subsequently filed a criminal complaint in April 2025.
In the case, the KNYF carried out further procedural actions on 22 September 2026, including searches and seizures, in the ongoing proceedings concerning the criminal offence of breach of fiduciary duty causing particularly significant financial harm. In response to an inquiry from MTI at the time, it was written that no suspect had yet been questioned in the criminal proceedings, and that the procedural actions concerned only legal entities.
On 1 October, the parliamentary investigative committee examining irregularities at the MNB heard testimony from former Fidesz MPs Erik Bánki and Lajos Kósa in connection with the case. Erik Bánki submitted the amendment to the central bank law in 2016, while Lajos Kósa was the parliamentary group leader of Fidesz, the larger governing party, at that time. Erik Bánki said the law was not intended to provide an opportunity for the unlawful financial management of the MNB foundations, as the State Audit Office continued to exercise oversight over them. Lajos Kósa stressed that when he stated in 2016 that the assets transferred to the central bank foundations had “lost their public funds character,” he was presenting the reasoning from a document sent over by the MNB.
Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.