Country:

Hungary

Subject:

New scandal around Hungarian secret services

Introduction:

In the second half of September, such scandals unfolded in Hungary that concern the functioning of secret services again. At the beginning of the scandal series it became apparent that a security company, UDZ Rt had been kept under constant surveillance by the Hungarian secret services for eight months. The company was suspected of collecting data about business actors and politicians secretly and illegally, as well as penetrating the intranet computer system of Hungarian secret services. However, as it has become a regular occurrence in Hungary, the wiretapped materials of the secret services were released to the public selectively and in a politically manipulated way.

Analysis:

Many could have been interested in destroying UDZ Rt. Not unimportantly, the company worked for the biggest Hungarian company (MOL Rt.) and the biggest Hungarian bank (OTP) as well, so destructing it could have been the interest of business competitors. However, it is much more likely that the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) may have been the most interested in wrecking UDZ Rt, because the executives of the company were connected to some politicians of opposition party Fidesz. The majority of employees worked for the secret services and could thus provide the opposition with professional advice. Neither can it be excluded that Ferenc Gyurcsany prime minister sent a message to the Hungarian big enterprise sphere by breaking the scandal. It is common knowledge that the Hungarian business sector would increasingly welcome an early election - because of the economic processes in the country. And they would even be willing to spend money on this.

However, because of the confiscation of UDZ Rt's computers, confidential data may get into unauthorized hands about either OTP or MOL, which renders these companies more vulnerable to blackmailing. By breaking the scandal, Ferenc Gyurcsany also alerted MSZP, preparing for an extraordinary party congress, and their social-liberal satellites in general. The prime minister demonstrated that only he can launch an unexpected and effective-looking campaign against prominent politicians of the opposition. Finally, it needs to be remarked that it is unlikely for a company like UDZ Rt not to have worked for the National Security Office itself, or for persons belonging in the second tier network of the current government. The confiscation of the company's computers by the police may give the opportunity for some to erase traces indicating such commissions.

The way the interception materials were revealed obviously implies manipulation. Gyorgy Szilvasy, the minister in charge of Hungary's secret services talked about the 'shadow secret service' of the opposition to journalists following the meeting of the Parliament's National Security Committee. The 'right hand man' to Ferenc Gyurcsany tried to repeat the message at the session of the Constitutional Committee as well. However, by that time Fidesz had uploaded on their website the two recorded conversations that involved their party politicians as well. These reveal that Laszlo Kover, chairman of Fidesz National Board is booking appointments and Ervin Demeter, a minister of the former Orban government, inquires about when and why Sandor Laborc, head of the National Security Office, went to Moscow.

We also get to find out that the predecessor of Laborc, Lajos Galambos had beers with the Budapest resident of KGB on a weekly basis. (Please note that there has been a heated debate in Hungarian domestic politics about Sandor Laborc because of his past with the KGB. On the dispute see Budapest Analyses Nos. 174, 177, 181 and 183 at www.budapestanalyses.hu) As it became apparent, conversations of Fidesz politicians were recorded in issues that are not subject to any investigation. The suspicion of political manipulation by the services thus emerges. According to legal regulations these recordings should have been erased and the politicians concerned should have been informed that they were being wiretapped. However, this failed to happen; the minister in charge used the secret recordings for political campaign instead.

This was not the first time the secret services and the Hungarian Socialist Party had proceeded similarly. In the previous cycle - in the course of the so-called 'Honey Bun Affair', attention needed to be distracted from the fact that two ministers of the Gyurcsany government (Istvan Hiller and Balint Magyar) may have entered into an intimate relationship with a lady who could be connected to the Romanian secret services. Because the lady was married to the Budapest representative of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, she also talked to Hungarian opposition politicians on the phone. Although these wiretapped conversations were not related to the case of the two ministers, the recordings were saved and leaked in order to distract attention. Thus, the services and their political leaders are not leaking recorded conversations of opposition politicians for the first time.

One of the recordings is a highly peculiar thread of the Hungarian secret services scandal. This records that employees of the company are discussing with other persons how they could collect data about Ibolya David, the chairwoman of the smallest opposition party Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), for her inside the party contestant, Kornel Almassy. The recording has 'somehow' made its way to Ibolya David and she disclosed it one day before the national council session. Following this, Kornel Almassy withdrew from the chairperson nomination. Consequently, the leaking and publishing of this secret services material - the mode of which is unclear to this day - decided the result of the MDF chairperson elections even though there is no evidence whether any data collection has been executed on Ibolya David, or whether Kornel Almassy was involved in such commissioning. This case further reinforces the impression that MDF has become an indispensable tool for Ferenc Gyurcsany to preserve his fragile authority.

Summary:

The new secret services scandal will not have a dramatic effect on the power relations of Hungarian domestic politics. At the same time, so much has been achieved that the public of the opposition is talking about 'agents', wiretappings, Communist times and antidemocratic methods again. By the manipulative utilization of wiretapped materials of opposition politicians, current heads of secret services and those in charge of political supervision have, in essence, provoked that in case of a change of government the scandals will have consequences concerning the secret services as well. In spite of the NATO and EU membership of the country, Hungarian secret services have come in a context that has in the recent era rather characterized member countries of the former Soviet Union.