According to State Secretary for Foreign Affairs László György Velkey, Zsolt Semjén only needed one friendly address to “nod to the Hungarian naturalization of Canadians who, even according to his own admission, had nothing to do with the Hungarian diaspora”. Velkey published official letters to prove this on his Facebook pagewhich revealed:
In the summer of 2024, Arthur M. Szabo, the honorary consul in Calgary, initiated the granting of citizenship to five Canadian families, twenty-three people “citing the important interests of Hungary”. According to Velkey, they included “influential businessmen, insurance and financial entrepreneurs, and the head of a health technology company.” Based on the letter published by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the then Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén’s cabinet initially considered that “the applicants are not members of the Hungarian diaspora living in Canada”.
In December 2024, Semjén received an email addressed as “dear Zsolt” from the Canadian president of the Hungarian Diaspora Council, Anna Szenthe, who asked the former deputy prime minister to still support the naturalization of those involved. Although Szenthe admitted that “our compatriots living in the diaspora, their family members or the Canadian elite who sympathize and support Hungary do not in all cases meet” the conditions for naturalization and citizenship, Semjén simply wrote at the top of the printed letter:
“Since Tamás Wetzel supports it, so can I!”
Former Prime Minister Gergely Gulyás Wetzel was appointed Ministerial Commissioner responsible for citizenship affairs. Semjén then sent his own letter of support to Gulyás, in which he already wrote that if the applicants meet the conditions prescribed by law, he will also support their naturalization in the national interest, on the recommendation of the Canadian Regional President of the Diaspora Council, the Hungarian Embassy in Ottawa, and Honorary Consul Arthur M. Szabo.
In a statement sent to MTI, the KDNP faction reacted to the documents made public by Velkey, according to which they support that Zsolt Semjén acted legally and regularly. “The documents show that the request was supported by the honorary consul, the president of the Canadian Diaspora Council, the ambassador, as well as the head of the field, Tamás Wetzel. In his letter, Zsolt Semjén lists all of this and ends by saying IF IT COMPLIES WITH THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS IN EVERYTHING! This also shows that everything was done in compliance with the legal requirements,” they wrote in the announcement, adding that Hazaváro program has nothing to do with naturalization, it is information that helps Hungarian citizens living abroad to move home.
Velkey this week reported thatthat with the support of Zsolt Semjén, Canadians received Hungarian citizenship for good money. And HVG found outthat Anna Szenthe is not only the Canadian president of the Hungarian Diaspora Council, but also the co-director of a private company called Hungarian Citizenship Consulting, which Velkey claimed managed the applicants for money. The company’s founder and owner is Gergely Bodnár, who was previously the project manager of the Homecoming Program belonging to Zsolt Semjén’s portfolio.
Szenthe admitted to the HVG that he made suggestions “a few times”, according to his claim, he only supported those whose naturalization he thought was in the interest of the nation, and that he did not receive any compensation or advantage for this. He claimed that he became a co-director of the Canadian company only to conduct its official affairs in Canada.
Our article has been updated with KDNP’s reaction.
