‘Orban-Gate’ scandal reveals Hungarian intelligence derailed probe into operation against opposition Tisza
Hungary’s intelligence services pressured the police during an investigation targeting former IT specialists connected to the Tisza Party, who had uncovered a covert operation against the emerging opposition party in 2024-2025, according to documents obtained by the investigative news site Direkt36.
Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar called the case, revealed weeks before Hungary’s general election, "a coup attempt against a free Hungary" and dubbed it “Orban-Gate”. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) NGO stated that the report highlights the government’s use of intelligence agencies to silence political opponents.
Tisza is seeking to unseat Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party in the upcoming April 12 general election.
"This is the end … Hungary’s intelligence services, acting on the instructions of Viktor Orban and his government, were working against Tisza, who was about to come to power. This case, the ‘Orban‑Gate’, recalls the worst periods of the communist era and is even more serious than the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon," commented Magyar at a campaign rally on March 24.
The opposition politician vowed that, if elected, Tisza will bring everyone involved in the process to justice.
According to Direkt36, the case began in July 2025, when the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) received an anonymous tip alleging that two individuals were planning to produce child pornography using hidden cameras. The tip was unusually detailed and reached Hungary’s Constitution Protection Office (AH), the domestic intelligence agency, almost immediately. Sources report that the AH acted before the case officially reached the NNI, pressing for urgent action, raising suspicions, as intelligence agencies are seldom involved in investigations of child pornography.
Within days, the NNI conducted coordinated raids on the office of a 38-year-old man (referred to in reports as "Buddha") and the home of a 19-year-old man ("Gandalf"). Investigators soon determined that the original allegation was baseless: no illegal material was found on their computers. However, they did seize a homemade hidden-camera belt, which was later classified as illegal military equipment.
Detectives, however, came across evidence suggesting a covert operation against the Tisza Party, founded in March 2024 by former Fidesz cadre Magyar. According to hundreds of messages, an unidentified figure known as "Henry" appeared to be trying to recruit one of Tisza's IT specialists to gain access to internal systems and sabotage the party’s IT infrastructure as part of a broader cyber operation. Gandalf saved screenshots of these messages and shared them with Buddha, who was no longer working for the party at the time.
The 19-year-old was allegedly asked to create a backdoor that would allow hackers to infiltrate the party’s IT system and was advised to keep this plan secret. One message from Henry read: "Don't forget: if you do it well, you will do really well. And you can be sure that if you commit, we will support you every step of the way. You wouldn't find a better partner than us anywhere in the whole country. We see and hear everything."
The messages also revealed that Gandalf feigned cooperation while secretly sharing information with his colleague, which was subsequently forwarded to party leadership. Later, Henry suggested he knew their locations, implying that they were being monitored.
He also tried to arrange a secret meeting at a secure location, prompting Gandalf to remark that it all felt like dealing with an intelligence agency and asked whether Henry’s group was an official organisation.
Henry replied: "We operate as a special operations unit … We work with excellent tools and personnel. Among the best in the country, and perhaps all of Europe."
Gandalf remained unconvinced and rejected the offer.
Meanwhile, the two Tisza IT specialists were working to expose Henry, using a homemade belt camera to secretly record video and audio. The device was tested but never deployed on the man. The operation ended when police raided their locations in July 2025, seizing all devices, including the belt.
Direkt36 also recalled that in October 2025, hackers breached the Tisza Vilag mobile app and released the personal data of around 200,000 people. Government media unlawfully published interactive maps and searchable lists that showed names, home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of Tisza supporters, including judges, journalists and other professionals, effectively spotlighting private individuals by name and address. "Everyone can look up who the Tisza supporter is on their street or in their village,” read one headline by a pro-Orban media outlet in autumn 2025.
Based on the documents obtained, Direkt36 writes that the AH maintained an active role throughout the case, repeatedly contacting police leadership and influencing the direction of the investigation. Sources speaking to the investigative news site said the intelligence service pushed the NNI to prioritise specific aspects of the case and discouraged deeper examination of Henry's identity or the network behind him. Police were told to focus instead on the technical device found.
The involvement of the Special Service for National Security (NBSZ) further reinforced the intelligence presence. Its personnel participated in search operations and handled forensic data extraction, tasks typically performed by police specialists.
The two IT specialists were subsequently questioned as suspects for alleged misuse of military-grade equipment. According to Direkt36, they were ultimately treated as suspects rather than victims, despite evidence indicating that they were exposing what appears to be a coordinated intelligence operation to cripple the IT system of the party.
Under the Orban government, Hungary’s intelligence agencies have repeatedly appeared in politically sensitive cases. In 2021, Direkt36 revealed that the Israeli spyware Pegasus was used against journalists or businessmen critical of the government.
After the 2022 elections, oversight of all intelligence agencies was transferred from Interior Minister Sandor Pinter to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, led by Antal Rogan, who is also in charge of communications, making him the most powerful minister in the cabinet.
NGOs have highlighted Hungary’s lax rules on national security surveillance, which require only the justice minister’s approval. TASZ notes that the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly found these laws fundamentally flawed.
Agencies like the AH are not allowed to conduct independent raids; such raids must be conducted through formal police procedures, TASZ director Mate Szabo was quoted by Direct36. He called it unusual for the AH to be involved from the start in a child pornography investigation unless there is a clear national security link. The news site reached out for comments, but AH declined to comment on its role in the NNI proceedings.
No comments:
Post a Comment