Donors raise €730,000 in record time to shield Hungarian whistleblower from Orbán backlash

A senior Hungarian police investigator who went public with explosive allegations of intelligence pressure and a covert operation targeting the opposition Tisza Party has received an extraordinary wave of public support, with a crowdfunding campaign raising nearly €730,000 in just two days.

The campaign for Bence Szabó, a captain in the Cybercrime Division of Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation (NNI), quickly became one of the largest such mobilisations in the region, as donors in Hungary and across Europe rallied behind the officer after he was investigated over his role in exposing the case.

The surge in support comes at a politically combustible moment for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing what polls suggest may be his most difficult re-election battle since returning to power in 2010. Multiple independent surveys now show Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party widening its lead over Orbán’s Fidesz ahead of the 12 April election, with one poll putting Tisza at 56% among decided voters against 37% for Fidesz.

The police insider who went public

The affair became public after Hungarian investigative outlet Direkt36 published details based on internal documents, confidential sources and a recorded interview with Szabó, in which he described alleged secret service pressure surrounding a politically sensitive case.

According to the account, the case began in July 2025 when the NNI received a tip alleging that two Hungarian men were involved in child pornography. The Constitution Protection Office (AH) allegedly pushed investigators to urgently raid the homes of the suspects.

During the searches, officers discovered they had targeted two IT specialists linked to Tisza, the opposition party currently leading in most polls. While no child pornography was found, investigators reportedly uncovered hundreds of screenshots of messages pointing to what appeared to be a broader political operation designed to penetrate or compromise the party’s IT systems.

Szabó, who worked in the child exploitation unit handling the original file, said he and colleagues became convinced they had stumbled into an intelligence-linked operation.

He described unusual interventions by the AH, including pressure over data recovery procedures and the alleged removal of seized data by intelligence officials without paperwork.

He also alleged that senior NNI superiors blocked investigators from pursuing evidence linked to the operation against Tisza or from formally attaching their findings to the case file.

According to Szabó, several officers then began what he described as a “shadow investigation” to preserve documentation, both to protect themselves and to ensure evidence would be ready if the case was ever allowed to proceed.

The officer further confirmed claims that Evelin Vogel, the former girlfriend of Tisza leader Péter Magyar, was allegedly involved in a team working against the party, though Vogel has denied the allegations.

The case against Szabó

Shortly after Direkt36 published its report, authorities searched Szabó’s workplace and later his apartment, seizing multiple data storage devices, according to his lawyer Adrienn Laczó.

The apartment search reportedly ended at 2 a.m., after which Szabó was questioned by the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office as a suspect on suspicion of abuse of office.

He reportedly made no statement.

Szabó had already submitted his resignation from the police and was serving his notice period when the searches took place, but the events are now expected to end his law enforcement career.

In the recorded testimony, he explained that he went public because he no longer believed any domestic institution would seriously address what he saw as politically motivated misuse of state structures.

He said the central issue was not simply one investigation, but whether Hungary’s institutions were still operating under equal application of the law.

Record crowdfunding turns legal case into civic mobilisation

The legal case rapidly evolved into a broader public movement.

A campaign launched by Szabó’s brother on 4fund.com initially sought €12,500, but within 48 hours had collected €729,482, exceeding the original target by more than 5,800%.

The pace was striking: more than €250,000 arrived in the first three hours, while the total crossed €500,000 within 12 hours.

According to the platform data provided by organisers, 78% of all donations were below €20, with the most common single contribution exactly €20 – a sign that the campaign’s strength came from mass micro-donations rather than a handful of wealthy backers.

Organisers later halted the fundraising despite the continued inflow, announcing that part of the money would be redirected to charitable causes.

Thousands of comments accompanied the donations, with supporters describing Szabó as a symbol of honesty, courage and institutional integrity.

Election pressure on Orbán

The scandal lands in the final stretch of an election campaign already seen as one of the most consequential in Europe this year.

Orbán, in power for 16 years, has positioned himself as the EU’s most durable illiberal leader, frequently clashing with Brussels over rule-of-law issues, Ukraine policy and frozen EU funds, while maintaining close political links with parts of the U.S. right.

Now, with Tisza consolidating a double-digit polling lead and scandals over alleged state pressure deepening public anger, the Szabó affair risks becoming more than a legal story.

Sources: direkt36.hu, 4fund.com, Reuters

Caption: Still frame from Bence Szabó’s interview, which has surpassed 2.6 million views on YouTube.