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 - End game
'FABULOUS' IN HUNGARY who could of course access western markets only through Presto - as agency commission fees. “The practice of channelling money back as commission fees had also arisen previously with regard to other foreign trade companies. In several cases, the foreign traders refused to sell their products below a certain price as this would violate an agreement they had entered into, or would result in having to sell the products at similar prices to other buyers as well. They were, however, willing to channel some of the money back as commission fees, because paying commissions did not count as reducing their prices. In order to earn such commission fees for the Hungarian people, the foreign trade companies concluded commission agreements in their employees’ names as agents, with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Trade.”376 It is clear that this must have been a hotbed of corruption, because this arrangement meant that the money representing the price discount was paid into the hands of the trade representatives of these companies, who paid the state company an amount they thought to be ‘reasonable’, which means they practically left it to the honesty of the individual to forward the amount of the commission to the company. In order to combat embezzlement, a proposal was made to designate one state company that operated as an agency, and could therefore act as an agent to ensure the money was channelled back, i.e. the foreign partners would no longer be paying the commission fees serving as the price discount to private individuals, but to an institution: “Since the Presto Foreign Trade Advertising Company has already been engaged in agency activities to date anyway, it is well-known as an agency abroad and best positioned to handle the aforementioned activity,”377 the Ministry of Foreign Trade found. 376 Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára (MNL OL) [Hungarian National Archives] XIX-A-83-b. Decision No. 3018/1. 7./56 of the Council of Ministers of the Peoples Republic of Hungary on converting the Presto Foreign Trade Company into a company limited by shares, 7 January 1956 377 Ibid. This created Presto Kereskedelmi és Hirdetési Ügynökség Rt. by early 1956. The company, however, was unable to eliminate widespread corruption in foreign trade, but significant power was handed over to it as it enjoyed a privileged position not only in terms of commission fees but also with regard 141
