Romania: Hungarian majority-owned company linked to far-right party AUR campaign
A Hungarian majority-owned company was also involved in the Romanian AUR party’s election campaign. At the heart of the story are campaign letters sent by party president George Simion to millions of voters, but the links go back to Hungary and RMDSZ, while serious data protection issues have also been raised.
According to Transtelex, the printing of the campaign letters was carried out by a company called Zipper Services SRL, which is based in Romania but with Hungarian ownership. One of the two founders of the company is the Budapest-based ANY Security Printing Company PLC (ANY Biztonsági Nyomda), formerly known as State Printing House, which is responsible for the production of Hungarian identity cards and passports, among other things. The other founder is Tipoholding SA, which is headed by Gábor Kerekes, former Executive Vice President of the RMDSZ and State Secretary of the Romanian Ministry of Telecommunications.
The financial background and the link between the AUR
The financial flows were investigated by the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP). AEP documents revealed that the amount for printing services was paid to Zipper by a company called DGI Multimedia Design. This DGI is closely linked to the AUR party and, according to the Romanian press, is essentially the AUR’s ‘in-house company’.
According to official information from the Romanian Postal Service, they delivered more than a million of these campaign letters, but they were not directly for AUR, but had a contractual relationship with Zipper. The AEP also investigated the role of the Post Office and found that the delivery contract was in fact concluded with them by Zipper Services, so that the official contact was the Hungarian majority-owned printing house.
One of the key players in the story is Gábor Kerekes, who, as founder of Tipoholding SA, was indirectly involved in the operation of Zipper Services. Kerekes is no stranger to Romania: in addition to his political career, he was indicted by the Directorate for Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in 2009 and sentenced to four years in prison in 2015.
However, Kerekes fled abroad before the verdict and was eventually captured in Germany. The current ownership structure of Zipper Services SRL is 60% owned by ANY Security Printing Plc, while the remaining 40% is held by Doru Ioan Vîjîianu, who is also the company’s CEO. The DeFapt.ro portal contacted both George Simion and Vîjîianu about the matter, but neither of them responded.
Data protection concerns: Was the use of voter data lawful?
One of the most sensitive points of the case is the issue of data management. Simion admitted that his party had sent out nearly three million letters, mostly to retired voters. The USR party had warned at the time that AUR could use voter register data to send them political advertisements without their consent. The Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) confirmed that political parties can indeed access the electoral roll, but only for internal use.
The fact that the AUR sent out campaign mailings on the basis of this information could, according to the authority, constitute illegal data processing. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the personal data, through the printing of the letters, was transferred to a partly foreign-owned company, Zipper Services SRL, which raises further data protection concerns.
Campaign letters also sent to the deceased
One of the scandalous details of the case is that campaign letters arrived not only to pensioners but also to the mailboxes of deceased people. This raises new questions about the accuracy of the voters’ register data and the method and responsibility with which AUR handled this information. According to Simion, this is legal, since as a political party they have the right to the register data. However, the data protection issues do not end there, especially in light of the fact that the Hungarian-owned company concerned has so far not provided detailed answers as to who exactly placed the printing order and in what form, or who financed the whole campaign.
The story is particularly sensitive as it concerns a Hungarian majority-owned company involved in a campaign for a far-right party in Romania, raising privacy concerns. ANY Security Printing Company PLC (ANY Biztonsági Nyomda) is one of Hungary’s most important public procurement partners and is also responsible for the production of official documents. The indirect involvement of such a company in the internal political campaign of another country raises serious questions, not only in Romania but also in Hungary.
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