Is the scandal around the Gondosóra growing?
The program launched in 2022 is increasingly surrounded by suspicions, so the NAV is investigating on suspicion of budget fraud. According to Péter Magyar, the program is "full theft".
Saturday, July 25, 2026, 5:45 PM
Photo: MTI / Lajos Soós
The government is redesigning and reviewing the Gondosóra program.
At Thursday's government spokesperson briefing, Péter Magyar described the program as "full theft".
He added that he does not dispute its purpose – although there are also interesting aspects for him in that regard – but rather has a problem with the outdated technology.
The program, which provides a free device for emergency calls for people over 65, was launched by the Orbán government in 2022, initially covering costs from roughly 108 billion forints, a substantial part of which was provided by EU funds.
At Thursday's government spokesperson briefing, Péter Magyar also said that the program was removed from EU funding – to avoid losing the funds – so the state budget covers the 100 billion forint expense.
As we reported last year, the Orbán government allocated 27 billion forints from the 2026 budget for the Gondosóra program.
According to the Prime Minister, the European Commission and auditing bodies found such "irregularities" that the country would "certainly not have received" this EU funding.
Independent MP Ákos Hadházy first raised suspicions of overpricing in the spring of 2024. Then in January 2025, he announced that the Integrity Authority (IH) and the NAV are also examining his submissions regarding the "gigantic fraud".
Based on a document that came into his possession, he claimed that 4iG, which provides the Gondosóra service, did not purchase the watches directly from the manufacturer, a Far Eastern company, but through a "mysterious" Dubai-based company. According to Hadházy, one device was purchased for 54 dollars (approximately 20,000 forints at the exchange rate at the time), but in the project they were accounted for at 70,000 forints – writes Portfolio.
After that, the Integrity Authority considered his suspicion well-founded and launched an investigation into the matter, and the NAV began investigating, but initially no official statement could be found on their websites.
Now, however, this has changed. The Integrity Authority announced last week that it had prepared an "interim report" on the investigation of "certain procurements" of the Gondosóra program, based on "circumstances revealed" in which:
- it filed a complaint against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of "several crimes". In addition, the IH also announced that
- it initiates a irregularities procedure at the managing authority supervising the Gondosóra program, and
- also initiates proceedings by other competent bodies.
The NAV told RTL News that it is investigating the Gondosóra program on suspicion of budget fraud.
In addition, the government is also preparing a report on the matter and may file a separate complaint.
