István Garancsi

Construction and energy entrepreneur István Garancsi — owner of football club Videoton FC and the figure behind Market Építő Zrt. and the MET Group — is routinely identified in Átlátszó's reporting as "the prime minister's billionaire friend." In November 2020, his company Market Építő Zrt. asked Budapest's municipal government for a 90 percent discount on a construction area-use fee; the city ultimately approved the permit only on condition that the full fee be paid. In November 2023, Garancsi's media company ESMA Reklám Zrt., together with Sys IT Network Zrt., won as the sole bidder a tender for advertising rights on Budapest's lampposts; Átlátszó reported that the procedure bypassed mandatory concession rules, that rival firm Hungaroplakát Kft. said the eligibility criteria appeared tailor-made for a single company, and that although Budapest's General Assembly had rejected the proposal in May, Mayor Gergely Karácsony unilaterally approved it anyway in July. In February 2025, the Garancsi-linked Market Zrt. won a restricted tender — inviting only five companies — to renovate the House of Terror museum's façade for nearly HUF 300 million.