Hungarian prosecutors order insider trading probe into some early 2026 MOL share sales

MOL Magyar Olaj es Gazipari Nyrt

11/06/2026 12:45

    BUDAPEST, June 11 (Reuters) - Hungarian prosecutors have ordered a police probe into some transactions related to shares of oil group MOL MOLB.BU to examine whether they violated rules on insider trading, the Budapest chief prosecutor's office told Reuters on Thursday.
The police investigation comes after the National Bank of Hungary in February launched a probe into sales of MOL shares by company officials in the days following the January 27 halt in crude shipments on the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary. Shipments only resumed in late April.
In an emailed reply to Reuters, prosecutors said that "based on current data, the circumstances of the relevant share sales can only be clarified with an investigation".
"Therefore, an investigation by the Budapest police is underway based on suspicion of insider trading," they said.
MOL did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. In February, the company said its executives had executed their share transactions in accordance with the law, and that the disclosure of the transactions was also carried out through legal channels.       
The company "has always complied with the relevant laws in all respects", MOL said when the central bank announced its probe.

RETAIL STOCK INVESTORS ASSOCIATION FILED REPORT IN FEBRUARY
In February, the association of retail stock investors TEBESZ filed a report with the central bank - the capital markets supervisory authority - about sales of MOL shares by company officials in the days following the January 27 halt in Druzhba crude shipments.
MOL said on February 16 it had asked the energy ministry to release strategic oil reserves because of the halt to Druzhba supply.  
The announcement came after Kyiv said on February 12 that Russian oil exports to eastern Europe via the Ukrainian part of the Druzhba oil pipeline had been suspended due to a Russian attack.
Shares in MOL rose nearly 5% earlier on Thursday after the company completed talks on a shareholders' agreement with Serbia over the acquisition of a stake in the Russian-owned, U.S.-sanctioned oil firm NIS. 

 (Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Jan Harvey)
 ((krisztina.than@thomsonreuters.com;))