Hungarian police arrested György Matolcsy, the former head of the country's central bank, on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, whose report ran on ABC News, and the Hungarian news site Telex.

Matolcsy led the central bank from 2013 to 2025, the AP reported. Before that, he was economy minister under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He was long one of Orbán's closest economic allies. He has denied any wrongdoing, the AP said.

He is suspected of economic fraud and of using a forged private document, the AP and Telex reported, citing his lawyer, Pál Bátki.

Prosecutors asked the court to hold Matolcsy in custody, The Budapest Times reported, citing the Hungarian news site Telex. The court is expected to rule on Friday. Matolcsy did not make a statement during questioning, his lawyer said. "Until we see what evidence forms the basis of it, we are unable to respond to it," Bátki said, according to The Budapest Times.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar confirmed on Facebook that Matolcsy was in custody, the AP reported. Magyar's government took office this year and has made probing Orbán-era officials a priority.

Much of Matolcsy's time at the bank was clouded by claims of corruption, the AP reported. The bank set up foundations that it gave hundreds of billions of forints in public money, the AP said. That is equal to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The asset manager for some of those foundations handled nearly 500 billion forints of public money, The Budapest Times reported. Losses reached about 150 billion forints, according to the state audit office, the paper said.

It was not clear whether the arrest was tied to the foundations or to real estate the bank bought at inflated prices, the AP reported.

What we know: Matolcsy was arrested on suspicion of economic fraud, and prosecutors want him kept in custody.
What we don't: Whether the court will order him held, and what evidence prosecutors have.