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 - Ties running deep
ATTACK ON THE OMFB and representatives were apparent at the OMFB under Sebestyérís leadership. [...] The direct method or form of support mean that the requirements and orders of Hungarian companies or institutions are financed fully or in part by the OMFB provided that they place such orders with a given western or West German firm, a club member.”484 484 ÁBTL 3.1.9 V-160121/2 p. 226-227 Minutes of Endre Simons interrogation, 11 September 1973 485 ÁBTL 3.1.9 V-160121/2, p. 28 Report, 10 August 1973 Simon handed over a plethora of information, names of firms and a map of contacts to his interrogators. After a while, he attempted to save himself by downplaying his own role to that of an agent. In his version of the story, he was merely used to do their dirty work for them, but the masterminds behind everything were actually Sebestyén and Geist. Counterintelligence did not and could not do anything about the majority of the connections emerging en masse as this would have resulted in holding Sebestyén to account, which they had to avoid - this much had already become clear to them in the course of the investigation against Emil Hoffmann. Consequently, the present-day researcher is unable to insert the majority of names and stories that emerged into a network of connections (for now). We lack fundamental information that could have been gathered easily during the investigation, and finding this information in the present day has been reduced to a matter of sheer luck. We read in Sebestyént confessions, for example, that the commissions and gifts from foreign companies were forwarded to Sebestyén through a West German firm called Berma. Sebestyén allegedly kept in touch with the firm through his daughter, who married and moved to West Germany, and her husband, who belonged the senior management of Siemens.485 What is interesting about this statement is not the family connection, but the mention of the company Berma. However, we learn nothing else from the investigation documents; it seems that the investigators were treading carefully not to have to charge Sebestyén with corruption, so they deliberately did not ask further questions regarding the company acting as the intermediary and its ownership structure. Good fortune, however, came to the aid of the researcher here, as Berma is not completely unknown to us. 175
