American Marconi Wireless News - Hungary raids Orban's Fidesz party servers in graft probe

Since ending Orban's hardline 16-year rule, Prime Minister Peter Magyar's new pro-European conservative government has rushed to loosen the self-styled "illiberal" leader's lingering grip on the country.

Magyar has also vowed to pursue figures who enabled corruption, which watchdogs believe became endemic under his predecessor, and recover public assets from those who "illegally acquired" them.

"The Bacs-Kiskun County Prosecutor's Office is conducting an investigation in a criminal case initiated in connection with the National Cultural Fund regarding the crime of embezzlement and other criminal offences," the office's spokeswoman Marianna Bodo told AFP.

Bodo added that no further information would be provided, "as this would compromise the interests of the ongoing investigation".

It was not immediately clear what Fidesz facility in the southern Bacs-Kiskun County had been raided.

"Investigators from the prosecutor's office showed up unannounced at the data centre hosting Fidesz's servers with the intention of seizing the party's entire communications system and databases," a statement from Orban's party said on Facebook.

The party claimed that "there has been no precedent for this in Hungary since 1990, the end of communism".

- 'Regime change' -

In the wake of the announcement, Magyar said on Facebook that he had learnt of the alleged raid from Fidesz.

"We are awaiting a statement from the prosecutor's office," he added.

Magyar's Tisza party swept the April elections on the promise of "regime change", winning a two-thirds majority in parliament.

His government has moved to turn the page on the Orban era, including by passing a swathe of anti-corruption measures and changing the constitution to effectively bar Orban from running again.

Magyar has also pushed to remove a host of Orban-allied figures he accuses of being "puppets", including unpopular ex-president Tamas Sulyok, ousted by constitutional amendment on Sunday.

Fidesz has decried Magyar's moves as "autocratic", a charge that was often levelled against Orban himself during his tenure.

But they have helped to smooth over ties with the European Union, frayed by Orban's cosiness with the Kremlin.

Magyar's reform drive is seen as crucial to rapidly unblocking 16 billion euros ($18.3 billion) in EU funds frozen over rule-of-law concerns under his predecessor.

It has also approved a dramatic overhaul of public media, which under Orban had become a de facto Fidesz mouthpiece.

P.Martin--AMWN