The trial of the Ministry of Agriculture abuse case continued on Thursday with the hearing of a special defendant at the Székesfehérvár Court of Justice. A long-time member of Hungary’s economic elite, billionaire businessman Kristóf Nobilis testified as a defendant in the case.

The criminal case concerns the payment of 2.2 billion forints (EUR 5.3 million) by the Ministry to two law firms – KPZ Law Firm and Őszy Law Firm – which, according to the prosecution, did not do any real work in exchange for the money.

Direkt36 reported on the case in November 2023, when we also revealed that according to the indictment, the law firms receiving the money transferred significant amounts to a Swiss bank account through a Budapest company called Astonish Zrt. According to the documents presented to the court, this account was owned by an offshore company in Panama linked to Kristóf Nobilis. According to the prosecutor’s office, Nobilis did not pay taxes on the sums received. Prosecutors have therefore asked for the businessman to serve a prison sentence and pay a fine.

“I would like to say that I don’t know how I got here” –

this was one of the first sentences of Nobilis’ plea, and he also stated at the beginning that he had not committed any crime of money laundering or financial fraud. The judge then told him that “money laundering is now forgotten.” The judge was referring to the fact that although the authorities investigated the transactions on suspicion of money laundering, this was not included in the indictment and the billionaire was only charged with financial fraud and falsification of private documents.

Nobilis says it was just a loan

Nobilis defended himself in his testimony by claiming that the money was in fact a partial repayment of an old loan. According to the billionaire, the transaction looked like this. Back in the late 2000s, his Panamanian company had made a €30 million loan to the predecessor of a company called Astonish. When KPZ Law Firm and Őszy Law Firm became owners of the company years later, they started to repay this loan to Nobilis’ Panamanian company. According to the indictment, this was done with money that the firms received from the Ministry of Agriculture’s background company, which was in the process of being closed down.

Nobilis argued his innocence by claiming that the repayment of the loan was tax-free. He therefore claimed that he did not have to pay any tax on the transaction.

Nobilis was also asked about his monthly income and his financial situation, but he could not answer these questions clearly. He claimed that he was sometimes better off and sometimes worse off, but that he had no financial problems. In the end, he defined his wealth as no longer being among the 100 richest people in the country, but still having several billions.

Nobilis has long been a prominent figure in Hungarian business life, having worked in the financial sector and invested in real estate and agriculture. An August 2005 portrait in Manager Magazin described him as a businessman with a clear right-wing commitment to publicity, but who also has left-wing and liberal business partners and friends. Nobilis also had business contacts with former or current pro-government figures such as banker Zoltán Spéder and historian Mária Schmidt, who has a personal relationship with Viktor Orbán.

Nobilis in the courtroom. Photo: Daniel Szoke

He also said that he had founded at least 20 offshore companies in the past, and he still owns some of them today. He explained that this was common practice in the 1990s. “It is not common, but it is not illegal.”

The other Nobilis

The role of Kristóf Nobilis in the case is noteworthy because one of his sons, Márton Nobilis, was chief of staff to Minister of Agriculture István Nagy at the time of the money transfers, and was a state secretary at the same ministry until 31 December last year.

Márton Nobilis was called to court in December 2024, where he used his right to immunity, refusing to testify, citing a family connection to the accused. He only said a few words in court:

“I have a law degree, I am not aware of any criminal offence, I have not committed any. However, I believe in my father’s innocence and therefore I refuse to confess.”