The favorite occupation of the domestic opposition is to oligarchize. However, they have no idea who the oligarch is. An oligarch is not simply a rich man, but something else entirely. In my article below, we go around this problem.
Let's first see the list of the 100 richest Hungarians, including the top ten (ranking / name / age / wealth according to Wikipedia's 2020 list):
- Sándor Csányi (67) HUF 310 billion / USD 1.0 billion
- György Gattyán (50) HUF 280 billion / USD 900 million
- Lőrinc Mészáros (54) HUF 270 billion / USD 870 million
- Zsolt Felcsuti (49) HUF 187 billion / USD 600 million
- Gábor Széles (75) HUF 170 billion / USD 550 million
- Tibor Veres (58) HUF 160 billion / USD 520 million
- László Szíjj (62) HUF 120 billion / USD 390 million
- Dániel Jellinek (43) HUF 115 billion / USD 370 million
- Lajos Kasza (71) HUF 113 billion / USD 360 million
- László Bige (62) HUF 112 billion / USD 360 million
The sum of the known assets of the 10 richest Hungarians in 2020, their combined assets - converted at the exchange rate of HUF 310/USD - is "only" USD 5.92 billion. This is approx. 3.8% of the 155 billion USD Hungarian gross national product in 2020, but if we project it to 180 billion USD in 2021, it is "only" 3.29% (the reason for the big difference in GDP is the pandemic shutdown due to).
In comparison, some of the rich in the area:
Peth Kellner, Czech Republic, $17.5 billion
Andrej Babis (recently Prime Minister), Czech Republic, USD 4.2 billion
Ivan Cherenko, Slovakia, $1.5 billion
Michal Solowow, Poland, $4.0 billion
Daniel Dines, Romanian, $5.05 billion
Miroslav Mišković, Serbia, $2.8 billion
Billionaires from several neighboring countries would easily top the list of the 100 richest Hungarians (three from the Serbs, seven from the Poles, and more than ten from the Czechs would end up ahead of Csányi, who heads the 2020 list of the richest Hungarians).
So much for the Hungarian oligarchs.
The forty-five billion dollar question, or the empire of the oligarchs
But there is a poor country, our neighbor Ukraine, which beats all competitors. While Ukraine's GDP is almost as much as ours (USD 181 billion, MO USD 180 billion, 2021), of course, all this is six times larger in area and four times larger in population, while the oligarchs are far better off.
Although the crisis of 2008-9, the future, and the separatists battered his empire, before 2009 the Ukrainian entrepreneur from Donetsk, Rinat Akhmetov, was the richest man in Ukraine and also in Europe with his fortune of 31 billion USD. Nothing could happen in the eastern ends without his nod. Think about it, the wealth of the richest Ukrainian (Russian/Tatar) equaled a quarter of the country's GDP at the time! And although a lot of water has flowed down the Dnieper since then, the hryvnia has devalued, and Akhmetov's fortune may still be around USD 7 billion.
Another famous oligarch was Viktor Punchuk, who married into the presidential family (Kuchsma), and around 2009 his fortune was estimated at USD 10 billion. If Akhmetov was the master of all wealth in Donetsk, then - on a smaller scale, however - nothing could happen in Kiev without Pinchuk. Today, his fortune - the loss is partly the devaluation of the hryvnia - is estimated at USD 2.2 billion.
A special character of the Ukrainian oligarchs is Igor Kolomoiskyi, who actually made Zelenskyi, who started as a dancer-comedian, a puppet president. So, today Ukraine is not led by Zelensky, but by Kolomoisky. Today, Kolomoisky's known fortune is 1.8 billion USD, but it was once around 6 billion.
Currently, the list of the richest Ukrainians looks like this (as of 2021):
- Rinat Akhmetov USD 7.6 billion
- Viktor Pinchuk USD 2.5 billion
- Kostyantyn Zsevago USD 2.4 billion
- Igor Kolomoisky $1.8 billion
- Gennady Bogoljubov USD 1.7 billion
- Petro Poroshenko USD 1.6 billion
- Vadim Novinsky $1.4 billion
It can be seen that they would all be ahead of Csányi in the ranking of 100 Hungarians, while - I am convinced that - a significant part of their wealth, in addition to the above figures, is hidden abroad.
Their combined assets are USD 19 billion, 11% of Ukraine's GDP in 2021.
Rinat Ahmetov is 327th in the world ranking (Forbes) and alone has more wealth than the top 10 Hungarians on the list of 100. The seven Ukrainian oligarchs probably have more known assets than the 100 richest Hungarians combined.
And missing from the list are, for example, Sergej Taruta, who also had a multibillion-dollar fortune until the 2009 crisis (if his name sounds familiar, think of Dunafer), Dmitry Firtas, a key figure in the famous Russian-Ukrainian (-Hungarian) gas contract, or Sergej Tyigipko, who in 2012 was among the 10 richest Ukrainians until , and many others from the Ukrainian oligarch team estimated at around 35 people.
***
But let's not forget that a Ukrainian oligarch is not simply a rich entrepreneur. His empire is a state within a state, a holding company with an investment company, a banking network, its own legal team, its own political influencing team (local and national politicians, people sitting in ministries, the president's office, courts), its guard and protection company (private army), its shipping company, he owns a chain of retail stores, a few hotels, a private jet, a yacht, and a residence worth tens of millions of dollars.
Compared to them, the Hungarian "oligarchs" are minor players.
Well, now, imagine the country that these oligarchs will leave in a few days, and the second-tier dollar millionaires will also leave by the hundreds along with their money, when Putin raises his index finger!
***
PS: Of course, with the war, all rankings lose their meaning. But new oligarchs are sure to come. Akhmetov can certainly keep his wealth even with the Russians, in fact!
The author is a military engineer and freelance publicist
Ferenc Mernyó
Featured Image: Pixabay
