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PM Orbán: Hungarian FM Szijjártó tapped; threads lead to Péter Magyar’s top diplomat
Hungary’s staunchly pro-government public media has suggested – on the basis of an audio recording not yet made public – that Szabolcs Panyi, a journalist with the investigative outlets Direkt36 and VSquare, passed on the phone number of Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó to an unnamed foreign intelligence service. That agency is then alleged to have tapped the line, monitoring whom the minister calls and who calls him. On the supposed recording, Panyi is also said to reveal that he maintains friendly ties with Anita Orbán, the would-be foreign minister in the event of a Tisza Party victory.
Was Foreign Minister Szijjártó wiretapped?
An audio recording purportedly confirms an intelligence operation targeting Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó. The threads lead to the Tisza Party, with Szabolcs Panyi and Anita Orbán deeply embroiled, reported the government-aligned Mandiner on Monday. It claimed to have received a mysterious email from a sender styling itself “Fourth Estate Agnes”, with the message and attached recording revealing that Panyi – a reporter for the foreign-funded Direkt36 and VSquare – maintains links to foreign intelligence services.
Panyi handed over Szijjártó’s phone number to the intelligence arm of an EU member state, enabling it to monitor the Hungarian minister’s calls, Mandiner writes, citing the recording.
Panyi ‘close to Anita Orbán’, Péter Magyar’s top diplomat
Public media has not released the recording itself, publishing only a transcript excerpt. This suggests Panyi served on Anita Orbán’s 2010 Fidesz campaign team – a “dark spot” in his past, in his view. The reason? He and Anita Orbán remain close friends, with Panyi poised to influence ministerial appointments or sackings should Péter Magyar’s camp win the election and install her as foreign secretary. The public broadcaster’s quoted transcript allegedly has Panyi refusing to name the foreign service involved.
The report leaves unanswered why Panyi needed to supply Szijjártó’s number to any foreign agency, given that the minister’s contact details were presumably hardly a state secret in diplomatic circles – readily available, say, in counterpart foreign ministries above a certain level.
The MTI news agency notes that Panyi works for the foreign-influenced Direkt36 investigative portal and Warsaw-based VSquare, having attended numerous training courses in the United States and boasting strong Democratic Party and intelligence connections.
PM Viktor Orbán orders probe
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Monday described Mandiner’s fresh article as “staggering”, alleging that “a Hungarian journalist actively collaborated in the wiretapping by one or more foreign intelligence services”. He called it especially grave that “the Hungarian journalist maintaining active ties to foreign services is a friend of Anita Orbán”. This, he said, illustrates how “a pro-Ukraine government would build a Ukraine-partisan foreign ministry”.
The wiretapping of a government minister amounts to a grave assault on Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared on his Facebook page on Monday. He added that he had instructed the justice minister to investigate the information on Szijjártó’s surveillance without delay.
Péter Magyar, president of the Tisza Party, on tour around the country, has yet to respond to the accusations from government-aligned media outlets or the alleged recording.
If you missed our previous articles concerning the 12 April general elections:
- Russian disinformation network spreads fake assassination and coup claims about Orbán
- Tisza Party vice president attacked with 8-inch-long knife at public forum
Wasn’t it originally our Politicians using Pegasus spyware to surveil journalists, lawyers, and opposition figures on Hungarian soil? Let’s recap. Fidesz not only bought this software. They deployed it against the very people trying to hold them accountable.
Our Politicians – definitely the ones to trust when it comes to defending civil liberties and fight corruption! Most governments caught doing this at least attempt plausible deniability.
Instead, our Politicians shrugged and stated that Pegasus was legal (300 Hungarian phone numbers implicated), and our Mr. Orbán treated the whole thing as a non-issue. No independent investigation, no accountability, no reform. The parliamentary committee that was supposed to look into it went absolutely nowhere.
And … Gotta love those shadowy whistle blowers …
First, it must be noted that the Russian conspirators are very active.
I’m a little surprised that passing on a presumably well-known phone number in Hungary is already considered a crime against the state. Of course, I will remain silent in the future if anyone asks me for such a number. Who wants to commit a crime against the state and potentially end up in prison? I can only hope that not everyone in Hungary will soon be jailed for passing on official cell phone numbers of government officials.
Of course, all the accusations are so amateurishly fabricated that one would almost have to laugh at them, if it weren’t for a few idiots who still believe them. It serves only to smear others. This clearly demonstrates the moral depravity of these “beacons of freedom.”
Concrete evidence that this constitutes a breach of official secrecy is, of course, nonexistent, because the case still needs to be investigated. However, the alleged culprits are already being named. What are they actually being accused of—disliking Fidesz and not wanting this party to win the election? Of course, this too is being kept quiet!
What’s equally concerning is that a friendly relationship with someone in a different party than one’s own is considered shameful. They apparently don’t see a political rival, which should be the norm in a democracy, but only an enemy, like in a war, whom they want to destroy. One can only hope that this party doesn’t expand its power, because then Russia really isn’t far away.
In Germany, this would constitute the criminal offense of defamation, and anyone who does something like this would likely face substantial claims for damages. But of course, Orbán isn’t concerned about that, because he’ll simply pay them out of the public purse.
Furthermore, I wonder what’s more serious: giving out a phone number that many people probably know, or betraying our European allies. For me, the answer is clear.
The Hungarian state should really address the numerous spam calls that we have to endure every day here in Hungary. I wonder which state criminal passed on my Hungarian phone number?
In Germany, by the way, illegally obtained information cannot be used as evidence by law enforcement.
I’m curious to see how they’ll justify wiretapping a journalist in Hungary after the fact.
But the evidence was sent anonymously. Oh, I see!