Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘FABULOUS’ IN HUNGARY - The powerhouse of industrial espionage
'FABULOUS' IN HUNGARY The powerhouse of industrial espionage János Sebestyén did not spend long in Frankfurt. He returned home in August 1959, when an opportunity opened up for him that he simply could not pass up. An institute then known as the General Technical Council was being set up as the main advisory body to the Council of Ministers on technical matters. A member of the Committee for the National Economy of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP), István Szurdi, requested information on Sebestyén from state security as he was a potential candidate for the presidency of the new institute. At the turn of 1959-1960, the Ministry of Interior was still unable to provide any material information on Sebestyén, but over the next few months, as the investigation against Hoffmann began, it turned out that one of the key Hungarian partners of the West German trader who frequently visited Hungary was none other than the future head of the general council.323 Sebestyén knew Emil Hoffman from Frankfurt, “I helped him to the fullest extent possible, and was not averse to providing information considered confidential,”324 said ‘Fabulous’, expressing regret regarding Sebestyén ’s return to Hungary because he was unable to cooperate with his successor, József Búzás, the former general secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, anywhere near as well. We know that Hoffmann had relations with MNVK-2 in the second half of the 1950s, allegedly passing on information to them. After Sebestyén returned to Hungary, military intelligence suddenly realised that Hoffmann also had commitments to the British secret services, so they informed counterintelligence to keep tabs on ‘Fabulous’ whenever he travelled to Hungary. Although we cannot verify why the attention of state security was called to Hoffmann, or if there was a reason his case was not referred to civilian intelligence, but it was due to this surveillance that counterintelligence became aware of Sebestyén ’s suspicious relationships. State security later reckoned it was its duty to inform higher party leadership 323 ÁBTL 3.1.5. 0-12344/2 p. 92-93 Report, 15 March 1961 324 ÁBTL 3.1.5. O-12344/7-a p. 47 Executive report, 4 March 1963 121
