Miklós Szánthó

Lawyer Miklós Szánthó has led the government-aligned Center for Fundamental Rights since 2013 and, between 2019 and 2022, also chaired the board of trustees of KESMA, the foundation that runs Hungary's pro-Fidesz media empire. A 2021 investigation by Átlátszó found that the nonprofit company operating his center, Jogállam és Igazság Nonprofit Kft., received at least 925 million forints over just three years from the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, funneled through the Batthyány Lajos Foundation. The arrangement obscures the origin of the public money - at least one contract required no service in return - while staff salaries at the organization rose from 790,000 to 2.07 million forints a month between 2015 and 2019. Szánthó personifies the overlap between the government-aligned think-tank network and the pro-government media empire, simultaneously heading an organization funded by disguised public money and the board that oversaw KESMA's media assets.