Direkt36's investigation suggests that the targeting is likely to be the result of a conflict within Hungary’s law enforcement agencies.Continue reading
One of Viktor Orbán’s personal advisors, Hungary’s former ambassador to China, Cecília Szilas, was also one of the Hungarian targets of Pegasus spyware before her appointment, a new report by Direkt36 reveals.
According to the investigative and whistleblower platform, Szilas’ phone number is part of the leaked database of more than 50,000 numbers containing targets selected by foreign clients of NSO Group, the Israeli company that manufactures Pegasus spyware.
Szilas was targeted by the military grade spy tool shortly before she was appointed as Viktor Orbán’s chief advisor on China. In this highly confidential position between 2019 and 2021, she not only helped Orbán, but also personally participated in negotiations with the leadership of Shanghai’s Fudan University. (The Orbán government and the Chinese university had previously agreed that Fudan would establish a new campus in Budapest).
Direkt36 points out that she is not the first government official to be targeted by spyware. The outlet has previously reported several cases when independent journalists, media owners critical of the government, and opposition politicians have been targeted, as well as people close to the government. The list of names includes former state secretaries Balázs Weingartner and Attila Aszódi, the deputy director general of Hungary’s Counter terrorism agency TEK, Zsolt Bodnár, and high ranking officials of President János Áder’s security agency.
“I can’t say anything regarding the matter. My life is an open book,” Szilas told Direkt36 by phone, when asked why she may have become a target.
When it was suggested to her whether the surveillance has to do with some kind of extremely deep background check, she said that it might be possible. However, Szilas did not respond to several other questions, including when she had last undergone a national security screening or when she had been asked to work as the prime minister’s senior adviser.
According to a list obtained by Direkt36, the former adviser first became a Pegasus target in the summer of 2019, but it is not possible to determine for how long, if she was indeed under surveillance.
Szilas was targeted at the time she was temporarily working as the security director of steel manufacturer ISD Dunaferr Dunai Vasmű Zrt. in the middle of 2019, between two government jobs. Prior to that, she was deputy state secretary for Eastern Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (KKM) until the end of March 2019, and later became an advisor for Orbán for two years from September 2019. However, it is not clear whether her being a target is linked to these jobs and, if so, which one.
The Israeli company which manufactures Pegasus, advertises the spyware on its website as being exclusively for use in investigations into organized crime or terrorism.
A recent investigation by the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH) into the Pegasus surveillance scandal, claimed that the Hungarian authorities had only used the software in cases related to law enforcement or terrorism.
In spite of this, Direkt36 points out that the former ambassador appears to continue enjoying the trust of the Orbán government, and there is no information that any criminal proceedings have been brought against her.
Meanwhile, the Orbán government has not responded to Direkt36’s questions about the former ambassador becoming a possible Pegasus target.
In the featured photo: Cecília Szilas, (then) Ambassador of Hungary to China at the launch event of Chinese national airline Air China, announcing the launch of the Beijing-Minsk-Budapest-Beijing flight on 30 April 2015. Photo by Péter Trebitsch/MTI
