I wonder if anyone ever heard about Hungarian oligarch Mr. Lőrinc Mészáros in France? The billionaire is playing an important role in the upcoming French election, Mészáros is bankrolling Marine Le Pen’s election campaign.
Here is the story.
Mészáros is Viktor Orbán’s childhood friend who started out as a pipe-fitter and within a couple of years miraculously he became one of Hungary’s richest man. It is suspected that he is the front-man of Orbán’s holdings.
Mr. Mészáros (left) and Viktor Orbán
We know that Orbán is a great admirer of Russian President, Vladimir Putin and far right French presidential candidate; Marine Le Pen never hid her sympathies for the Russian strongman either. Orbán and Le Pen have both criticized Western sanctions against Russia over its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
In 2014 Moscow-based First Czech-Russian Bank issued a surprise $10.8 million loan to finance Le Pen’s National Front party’s campaign. It was clear that the Kremlin is behind the loan and Le Pen’s party treasurer Wallerand de Saint Just did not hide the fact that no French bank was willing to provide credit.
Orbán (left) and Le Pen – best friends
Two years later the First Czech-Russian Bank was defunct. The loan ended up with Konti, a Russian car rental agency. Konti mysteriously transferred it to Aviazapchast, “an aviation company involved in high-priority strategic partnerships with the Russian state.” In other words, a Russian intelligence operation.
Aviazapchast did not demand payment from Le Pen. Instead it restructured the loan and entered into a voluntary settlement. Le Pen can pay back the loan in instalments until 2028. Good luck Aviazapchast!
This year French elections will take place in April and Le Pen’s coffers were empty again. Suddenly a Hungarian Bank came to the rescue with a 10.6 million Euro loan. The Orbán government was tight lipped about the loan, it was reported by the French news agency RTL. (Read here) Orbán and Le Pen are close allies, they met several times and just recently signed a political declaration in Madrid.
Now Hungarian daily Népszava reports that the loan came from Mészáros. His MKB Bank has close ties to Orbán’s inner circles and the oligarch is one of the beneficiaries of the euro billions Hungary has received from Brussels. (Read here the Népszava article in Hungarian)
Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party has 17% support and no chance of winning the upcoming presidential election. The favorite is current president Macron.
Ten million Euro is chump change to Orbán’s kleptocrat billionaire circles. I find it ironic that the notoriously anti-EU Le Pen’s campaign is ultimately financed by EU taxpayers via Orbán’s Hungary.
György Lázár
The connection between Orban and the worlds nastiest leaders and wannabes like Le Pen, is absolutely horrific. But what is worse is that the EU still continues to fund the Fidesz party.
It is this apathy and laziness and the un-audited funds, which have given Putin the greenlight and go ahead. He has sat back for decades,watching the naive inaction of the West, who have welcomed his pals in London. He murders people on UK soil, and what of it.
He incarcerates his critics in Russia. What of it. He shoots down a commercial airline, killing innocent people, but what of it. Why weren’t sanctions pout in place then?
Orban buddies up with Putin and Lukashenko, but nothing happens.
It has taken the war in Ukraine, and bombing children’s hospitals and civilians all over the country to finally get the apathetic West to sit up and realize that the foundations of a democratic world are now at stake and not just the future of Ukraine.
That being the case, the same corruption which has fueled Putin, should be noted wherever it rears its head, such as his buddy Orban, hanging out with other far right murderers.
He also should have been sanctioned the minute he pronounced he was creating an “illiberal democracy”. but where was the outcry then?
He should be sanctioned for shutting down the free press in Hungary, for shutting down opposition TV and radio stations, and for public theft, in broad daylight, of people`s livelihoods if they are not his supporters. Orban is small beer compared to Putin, but small beer can ferment and doesn’t take long for it to become an out of control monster, just like the man he so admires as head of Russia.
Do something about the small monsters, such as Orban, before they morph into much bigger ones.
Our PM has caused enough disruption himself in the world, with his self-importance, so please don’t let him carry on unchecked.
You must have been be a sience fiction writer, Gyuri. I enjoyed the story. Waiting for your next fairy tale.
As I wrote in 2012, Orbán should have been hit hard in 2011-2012 when he started to dismantle the democratic political system and after 2014 it became he was building a system of institutional corruption. Instead of nipping it in the bud and making a deterring example, EU and Ms Merkel in particular tried to appease the thug or ignore his criminal deeds.
The true story here is the fact that Western oligarchs have near-complete control of the political scene in the Western World. And they have larger designs. They want to become the World’s new Nobility, in control of all of us serfs, as prescribed in Kalergi’s “Practical Idealism”, a century ago. Only challengers are either self-financing billionaires like Trump, who won, and then was hounded by the deep state and smeared by the MSM near-monopoly, for the entire presidency. Challengers who flew under the radar like Orban, or the likes of Le Pen.
I wonder how long before ordinary French citizens will be hunted down for donating to her, have their assets frozen, have their employment terminated, and perhaps thrown in prison.
The practice of hunting down those donating to any rebels, against the Western Oligarchic grip and having them lose their jobs and so on, has already been well-entrenched. Trudeau took it a step further with the crackdown on anyone who dared to lend any support to those “terrorists”.
So yes, Le Pen gets funded by fellow rebels. All those who want to resist the near-total and tightening grip of the Western Oligarchy should support her and those who support her. It is increasingly hard to mount a chalenge, with their control of all institutions, including most private enterprise, MSM, academia, most political elites. With every failure to shake their grip, their control over us gets stronger. Their grip over the world gets stronger, given that the governments they control also inherited control of most global finance. When their grip will be complete, their power over us serfs will become absolute and unshakable. No one will dare to resist those who will have complete power over us and our lives. The power to freeze our bank acounts. The power to deny us the basic right to earn a living. The power to deny us sanctuary from their persecution, since they will control every corner of this planet and every aspect of the life of everyone.
Good article Dr Lázár, excellent comment 2bits4free. As for Joe and that lunatic Fodor – you’re losers. Nobody takes either of you seriously in this underpass. You’d be better off in tin pan alley.