The recently established Sovereignty Protection Office of Hungary has concluded its findings on the international NGO Transparency International (TI). The organization is headquartered in Berlin, Germany; and was founded in 1993 by former World Bank employees with the supposed goal of fighting global crime and corruption.

According to the report by the Sovereignty Protection Office, however, the local Hungarian branch of TI is ‘part of a global lobbying network, which exerts political pressure. It uses its scientifically questionable “Corruption Perceptions Index”, which is a tool for manipulation and disinformation, to discredit Hungary in the international public,’ as the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet reports. The official report by the Hungarian government agency has not been published yet.

However, Magyar Nemzet is also claiming that it will include an audit of the financials of the organization, which purports that only 1.7 per cent of its annual revenue of around 100 million HUF ($270,000) came from domestic donors. The rest of the money Transparency International Hungary is receiving is coming from foreign nations. George Soros’ Open Society Foundation and the European Commission are among the entities that have partly funded the organization, still according to information shared by Magyar Nemzet.

TI Hungary was not willing to cooperate with the Sovereignty Protection Office during the making of the report. This has been confirmed by the head of the organization, József Péter Martin himself, who has said in a public interview that he would refuse cooperation with the Office.

That is not surprising, since Transparency International Hungary, just like the mainstream media in the West and the opposition-aligned media in Hungary, has criticized the Sovereignty Protection Act which established the Office, passed by parliament in December 2023. TI Hungary claimed the new law was ‘going against European Union norms’ at the time.

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