One of the leading actors in the media sphere in Hungary, whose companies for years achieved profitable contracts with the state under the outgoing government, has offered to hand over his companies and part of the investments to the state, after the new government takes power.
Đula Balashi, the owner of several large media companies that have created government campaigns for more than a decade, made this offer in a video interview late Monday for the Kontroll portal.
This is the first significant move by a high-ranking business actor close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, which lost power in elections last month after 16 years.
Peter Magyar, the leader of the center-right Tisza opposition party, who will be sworn in as prime minister on May 9, announced a review of state contracts, the fight against corruption and the “return of stolen state property” as part of a program that brought his party a landslide victory.
– I want to present the group of companies that I have been building for 22 years, and which currently perform events organization, communications and media planning for the state and government, to the Hungarian state – said Balaši for Kontroll. “I’m not doing this because I’m hiding something or because we did something illegal, but because I believe that the activities we performed for the state go beyond market communication and should therefore be part of the public budget sector.”
Balashi’s firms are credited with creating Orban’s anti-Ukrainian election campaign, in which the April election was presented as a choice between war and peace, as well as numerous anti-migration campaigns.
Balashi stated that his companies received state tenders that were “completely transparent”. He also said that the accounts of several of his companies have been blocked since last Monday, but he did not specify which institution did it.
The Hungarian briefly commented on the interview on Facebook, saying in relation to Orban’s allies that “this system could fall much faster than anyone thinks.”
Tisza party deputy chairman Mark Radnai said that Balashi is “the man we know as Fidesz’s billboard maker and who has practically dominated the state communication market for the last eight years.”
– Let’s not forget that the money he earned did not come from the market, but we, the Hungarians, pay for it… nothing will be forgotten – said Radnai.
According to the Opten database, Balashi’s company New Land Media achieved a net income of 85 billion forints (about 273 million dollars) in 2024, while in 2020 the income was 70 billion forints, and the net profit increased to about 9 billion forints from 3 billion.
His other main firm, Lounge Design, increased revenue to HUF 26.3 billion from HUF 10 billion, while profits more than tripled. (1 dollar = 312 forints)
The organization Transparency International stated that Balashi’s companies in the period 2019-2021. received a total of HUF 295 billion in state contracts, mostly through the National Office of Communications.
The Corruption Investigation Center (CRCB) in a report dated April 10, 2026 stated that the number of contracts of its companies increased from zero to about 150 per year in the period 2012-2025. year.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
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