The National Office for Asset Protection and Recovery – in a Nutshell

In 2025, Péter Magyar made the promise to recover as many national assets as possible which may have been paid from the state treasury without proper legal authorization before the former governing party lost its mandate, as they can. For the purpose of fulfilling that promise, on 28 July 2026, the legislation for the National Office for Asset Protection and Recovery (the “Office”) was passed (the “NVHH Act”), which set up the Office, entered into force.

An Office, which could possibly ensure that no unlawful payment will be made again in the future, must have proper and effective powers. The legislators have therefore defined broad authority for the Office to act in connection with public assets, a term which has been defined very broadly by the Act. This term encompasses virtually all state and local governing assets; hence the Office can take action in almost all matters involving those.

The Office is entitled to conduct public finance analyses and asset investigations, exercise temporary supervision over companies, is authorized to initiate lawsuits in the public interest, and, in certain cases, may also conduct investigations and represent the prosecution. The Office may also represent the prosecution in criminal disputes. With that, a rule-of-law question arises, whether it is a super prosecution service, and is in a higher place in the chain-of-power than the already existing prosecution service. This stems from the fact that under the NVVH Act, the Office may at any time take over ongoing cases away from the prosecution service and proceed independently in such matters.

Furthermore, the Parliament has elevated its most important powers to the level of the Fundamental Law of Hungary (such responsibilities are the exercise of investigative powers, representing the public prosecution in court proceedings and performing tasks related to the recovery and protection of public assets). With the latter legislation, not only the key responsibilities, but the Office itself could only be amended with a qualified majority of the Parliament.

As to its structure, the Office is led by the president, supported by four vice presidents. Each vice president has a dedicated area of responsibility, there is one for i) public finance; ii) investigation; iii) prosecution and iv) appeals. To make sure that the president and the vice-presidents are independent, they are elected for six years by the Parliament with a qualified majority. The Office will start operation once the president and vice presidents are elected.