Hungary Has Detained 07 Employees Of Oschad Bank Without Citing Any Reasons.

Budapest; March 2026: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga announced today a couple of while ago that Hungarian authorities had captured 07 employees of Oschad Bank who were traveling with money on a collection flight from Austria. He wrote about this in X and Telegram.

The reasons for the detention and the health status of the employees, according to Sybiga, are unknown, and there is no connection with them. The Foreign Ministry has said that all 07 of these Ukrainians are employees of the state-owned Ukrainian bank Oschad bank. They were traveling in two collection cars between Austria and Ukraine: they were transporting funds and valuables between state-owned banks. The government official stated that Kyiv has already sent an official note demanding the immediate release of the Ukrainians.

“In fact, it’s about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money”, adds Andriy Sybiga.

Oschad bank has confirmed that its employees have disappeared in Hungary, and its collection vehicles and valuables have been seized. According to GPS data, the bank’s vehicles are currently parked in the centre of Budapest, near one of Hungary’s law enforcement agencies, the press service says.

The State Bank adds that it was transporting money and valuables in fulfillment of an international agreement with the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank. The cargo was processed in accordance with international transportation rules and current European customs procedures. The amount of valuables in the seized cars amounted to 40 million US dollars, 35 million euros, and 09 kg of gold, the statement added.

“Oschad bank demands the immediate release of its employees and property and their return to Ukraine”, the company  has emphasised. The National Bank also demands the release of employees of the Oschad bank collection team, who are illegally detained in Hungary.

“We demand from the Hungarian authorities the immediate release of Ukrainian citizens and an official explanation of the reasons for their detention, as well as the provision of information about the location of the collection vehicles and the relevant cargo”, the NBU statement said .

According to the Hungarian news portal Telex, the Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Centre raided cars with Ukrainian license plates transporting cash at a gas station on the M5 highway. “We know that people dressed in black were pulled out of cars and laid on the ground. There were several witnesses to the raid. After the action, the convoy left for Budapest. On 05th March, we sent questions to the police and the Anti-Terrorism Center about this, but we have not received any answers yet”.

Meanwhile vide an official press note, Oschad Bank stated that its Hungarian law enforcement officers were illegally detaining the collectors of the state financial institution of Ukraine , as there were no legal grounds for their detention.

They explained that since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the transportation of foreign currency and banking metals has been carried out exclusively by land. “Such flights are carried out by Oschad bank’s collection vehicles every week. Oschad bank has an appropriate license to perform international transportation, issued by the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety”, the press report says.

The Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration later confirmed the detention of seven Ukrainians on suspicion of “money laundering”. They also claim that the Hungarian side immediately informed the Ukrainian consulate about the start of the investigation.

National Bank Head Andriy Pyshnyy said that his deputy Oleksiy Shaban, together with the bank’s team, are urgently going on a business trip to Budapest to clarify the circumstances and the general situation regarding the seizure of Oschad bank’s collectors.

Team Maverick.