Orban demands investigation into alleged wiretapping of MFA head Szijjarto by foreign intelligence services
Hungary will investigate information about the alleged wiretapping of Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto by foreign intelligence services – including Ukrainian ones, Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated.
"Wiretapping a member of the government is a serious attack on Hungary. I have instructed the Minister of Justice to immediately conduct an investigation into the information regarding the wiretapping of Peter Szijjarto," Orban wrote on his Facebook page.
He also provided a link to a report in the pro-government publication Mandiner, which claims that foreign intelligence services, with the help of opposition journalist Szabolcs Panyi, gained access to Szijjarto’s telephone conversations. The publication also claims that Anita Orban, who could take the post of Hungarian Foreign Minister in the event of a victory by the opposition Tisza party in the April elections, was involved in organizing the wiretapping.
The publication cited an anonymous letter, to which audio recordings of conversations were attached, as its source. The publication claims that Panyi began cooperating with foreign intelligence services and provided them with Szijjarto’s phone number, making the wiretapping possible.
Szijjarto himself stated that he was "shocked" by the report.
"And now tell me, what is the legal definition of the fact when a Hungarian citizen maintains ties of this kind with a foreign intelligence service? I don’t know. But what is serious is that this Hungarian journalist, who maintains ties with foreign intelligence services, is part of the inner circle of the Tisza party. This Hungarian journalist, who maintains ties with foreign intelligence services, is a friend of Anita Orban," Szijjarto stated on Facebook.
