The Prime Minister’s Office has filed a criminal complaint with the National Bureau of Investigation (Nemzeti Nyomozó Iroda) against unknown perpetrators over a 300 million forint state grant awarded to the Mesterséges Intelligencia Kutató Központ (MIKK). The government says the use of the funds and the related procurement procedure raise suspicions of several crimes, including budget fraud, breach of trust and official misconduct.
Background: founding and allocation
The Mesterséges Intelligencia Kutató Központ was founded in December 2024. The 300 million forint grant was provided by Bethlen Gábor Alapkezelő Zrt. on 12 February 2025, reportedly at the suggestion of Szalay‑Bobrovniczky Vince, then the deputy state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for social affairs and brother of the serving defence minister at the time.
The stated purpose of the grant was to finance targeted research aiming at the state and societal integration of artificial intelligence.
Government concerns about capacity and research outputs
The Prime Minister’s Office states that the MIKK received state support despite having neither an independent operational history nor proven research capacity. Documents obtained by the Prime Minister’s Office reportedly show research materials that appear to be AI‑generated texts and compilations of social media posts, which the ministry does not consider to constitute valid research outputs.
How the funds were spent
According to the available accounting, substantive research work was outsourced via procurement to Observer Médiafigyelő és Kutató Kft. for a gross amount of 152,400,000 forints. Three companies tendered in the procurement; the Prime Minister’s Office says the other two bids were declared invalid in part because of an "disproportionately low consideration."
From the 300 million grant, 37.3 million forints were paid to Stern Com Kft. for communications and IT services, and 22.5 million forints were paid to NAXEL Hungary Kft. for property rental over eight months. Additionally, 69.2 million forints were recorded as wages and 6.27 million forints as other operating costs; 12.3 million forints of the grant remained unused and were repaid to the state.
The Prime Minister’s Office highlights that while research tasks were outsourced, the grant still financed wages, and that some documents were accounted for as research despite not qualifying as research products in the ministry’s view.
The 2026 payment and its return
The 2025 funding cycle expired in March of this year. The previous government commissioned another 300 million forints to the MIKK for 2026 related AI tasks; that sum was disbursed on 18 March 2026. The company returned the full amount on 14 April 2026 — two days after the elections — stating that several researchers had left and that without their professional work the planned project could not be implemented.
Why this matters
The Prime Minister’s Office argues that the circumstances—possible diversion of funds away from intended goals, outsourcing of the core research, and research outputs whose authenticity and suitability are questionable—provide grounds to report suspected crimes and initiate a criminal investigation. The National Bureau of Investigation will determine whether the alleged irregularities amount to criminal offenses.
Opening image: Ruff Bálint, Minister leading the Prime Minister’s Office. Photo: HVG / Cabrera Martin
