Pressman leaves Budapest next week, after two and a half years spent as an unusually active diplomat, travelling the country and frequently criticising the Orban government. His d

The US placed sanctions on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s influential cabinet chief for his alleged role in corruption, just days before Orban’s ally Donald Trump takes over in the White House.

By Tamas Csonka The US has sanctioned Antal Rogan, a close ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, for his alleged leading role in systemic public corruption in Hungary, outgoing US Ambassador David Pressman informed local media at an extraordinary press conference on January 7.

The United States imposed sanctions on a senior member of the Hungarian government for alleged corruption, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday, a move Budapest said it would challenge when President-elect Donald Trump takes power.

Antal Rogan is the first high-ranking Hungarian official sanctioned by the U.S. under the Magnitsky Act, which targets individuals involved in serious human rights abuses and corruption.

On Tuesday, a top Hungarian government official and adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orban was sanctioned for alleged corrupt activity by the United States, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The US has placed Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff under sanctions for alleged corruption, the highest-ranking Hungarian official to be blacklisted since the fall of Communism. Antal Rogán, a longtime ally of the Hungarian prime minister overseeing state-owned media and part of the intelligence services,

The United States has imposed sanctions against one of the closest allies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Sanctions were introduced against the Chief of Staff of Prime Minister, Antal Rogan,