Hungarian lawmakers are set to elect a new prosecutor-general on Tuesday, part of Prime Minister Peter Magyar's push to hold nationalist ex-leader Viktor Orban and his allies accountable over alleged corruption.
The parliamentary vote comes as investigations into high-level graft accusations gather pace in the central European country.
Three ex-ministers are in custody, including a former central bank governor, whom Orban once called his "right-hand" man.
President Andras Baka has nominated Peter Fejes, a recently retired career prosecutor and former regional chief prosecutor, for the top post.
Magyar's Tisza party, which holds more than two-thirds of parliamentary seats, said it will approve the nominee.
MPs are scheduled to cast their ballots around 11:00 am local time (1000 GMT).
Public confidence in the prosecution service eroded under Orban's 16-year rule, as critics accused the highly centralised institution of shielding the premier's inner circle from legal scrutiny.
Fejes, 65, said he aimed to regain the lost trust.
"The emphasis must be placed on professionalism, timeliness and being free from politics," Fejes told conservative website Valasz Online last week.
Parliament rejected Baka's first nominee for prosecutor-general last month after reports revealed that his brother was linked to the so-called "golden convoy" case.
Just ahead of April's parliamentary elections -- which Orban ended up losing to Magyar -- Hungarian security forces stopped transport vehicles of a Ukrainian state-owned bank transiting the country.
They detained seven employees and seized millions of dollars, euros and gold bars.
Hungary's tax authority said it acted in a money-laundering probe, but the detainees were quickly released, the assets returned and the original case was eventually closed.
Meanwhile, a separate inquiry was opened into alleged rights violations during the operation.
In June, the lead prosecutor investigating that case, Pal Furcht, stepped down, later alleging his superiors obstructed his probe and that evidence pointed to Orban ordering the operation.
Lawyer Lorant Horvath, who represents both Furcht and the detained bank employees, said he hoped Fejes would look into the matter.
"Our biggest concern is that the prosecutor-general's office played an active role" in the operation, he told AFP.
Former top prosecutor Gabor Balint Nagy announced his resignation in July after facing pressure from Magyar, who was elected on the promise of "regime change" and has pushed to get rid of a host of top officials appointed under Orban.
Other investigations have gained momentum since Orban lost power.
Ex-central bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy, also a former economy minister, was arrested last month over "economic fraud causing particularly significant financial loss", and an international arrest warrant was issued against his son, Adam, a suspected accomplice.
Two other former ministers have been in custody since September over alleged graft, thought to have caused millions of euros of losses in public funds.
Orban denounced the latter two probes as "politically motivated" processes aimed at imprisoning him and destroying his party.
By going after these cases, prosecutors have so far touched "only the bare minimum", Horvath said.
The country's new top anti-graft official, Anna Unger, has warned that getting convictions could take many years.
A government website lists over 60 cases referred to investigators, involving billions of euros in taxpayers' money, with fresh cases added regularly.
ros/jza/rlp
