Rats ahoy!

Hungary's richest man Lőrinc Mészáros, aka "Orbán's wallet", abruptly emptied one of his biggest company bank accounts this week. Another regime nabob packed his vintage cars and much of his physical wealth into containers and shipped them to Dubai (hopefully not via the Strait of Hormuz). Yet another tycoon high on the country's rich list, who happens to be Viktor Orbán's son-in-law, had already taken the precaution of decanting his family and their earthly possessions to the United States. What's going on?

According to the independent 444 news site, Mészáros transferred 3.39 billion forints ($10m) from the bank account of his construction company to his private account. He left about $100,000, which for a man reported to be worth $4 billion is short change. A plumber by profession, he has won practically all public tenders, often funded by EU taxpayers, in the past 16 years. His luck in business may owe something to the fact that his childhood friend from their native village of Felcsút has been in charge of the country in that time.

Ádám Matolcsy, who ran a National Bank fund into the ground, leaving a $1 billion hole, is selling furniture and other goods that he cannot stuff into the containers heading for Dubai. The 444 site reported that he has been getting ready for the move for weeks and already has residency status in the Emirates. Ádám is the son of György Matolcsy, former head of the same National Bank whose fund was bled dry by his offspring. No charges have been laid against either. These are the sort of people that opposition leader Péter Magyar had in mind when he penned the "Road to Jail" chapter of his election manifesto, promising to prosecute the kleptocracy if he wins the April 12 elections. Independent polls show his Tisza party heading for victory.

But what will become of Orbán's famous herd of zebras grazing at his family estate, Hungarians ask anxiously? They are unlikely to fare well in the deserts of Arabia, or in the US, where his bling-loving daughter Ráhel now resides.

Orbán's zebras at the Hatvanpuszta family manor: