Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
ATTACK ON THE OMFB - The Siemens lobby
ATTACK ON THE O M F B The news that the programme would be launched naturally ignited a fight among western companies to lay claim to the market, and, according to the information of state security, corruption was noticeably present in the competition process: the western companies manufacturing computers were outbidding one another to win the favours of foreign trade companies and their leaders in charge of such imports. Foreign trade deals and thus the selection of the technology to be purchased were entrusted to the OMFB. Sebestyén was, nonetheless, intent on favouring the system of nexuses he had established during his posting to Frankfurt and that had been expanding continuously ever since. It was primarily Siemens he wanted to promote, which made major waves in economic circles. Stakes were high, i.e. the available budget was huge, so even those who had been previously sidelined by Sebestyén wanted a share of the deals. Theoretically, Metrimpex was supposed to be in charge of the acquisition of computers, but, as we learned previously, the technical development council made sure through its contacts at the Ministry of Foreign Trade that Transelektro was in charge of OMFB purchases, regardless of the product itself. Taking advantage of the western interest in the eastern computer development programme, Metrimpex was involved in some serious negotiations with Honeywell and achieved a 30 percent discount with the British company. This also had a major impact on the purchases from Siemens. The West German firm was reluctant to give up its positions in Hungary to the British, so they, too, were ready to give a discount of the same rate. According to the information of counterintelligence, the success of Metrimpex was referred to as a deterrent example, saying that the discount given by Honeywell was considered by the Hungarian partner as a given from this point on, and insisted on these terms also when making later purchases.454 However, it was not the British electronic industry, but the interest group around Sebestyén that would have been hit the hardest, as this would have taken control of computer acquisition out of their hands. Endre Simon circumvented Metrimpex on the grounds that “he was not going to work with Metrimpex because they keep putting pressure on the 454 Ibid. p. 182 163
