Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA’ - A Cold War Hungaricum
'THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA' Indeed, under Hungarian rules, establishing a joint venture without additional authorisation was permitted only in western countries. It was not until 1977 that western capital was allowed to enter the country without prior authorisation. Consequently, the number of joint ventures with headquarters in Hungary was relatively low during these years. The CIA believed that Intercooperation Kereskedelemfejlesztési Rt. was the most significant of these companies. I have mentioned the company with regard to György Oblath, and its tasks included the establishment of various cooperation arrangements and the foundation of joint ventures. In fact, Intercoop eration was not a joint venture itself, its owners included Hungarian firms, but it was established with the aim of opening up a pathway for western capital to Hungary. Let me return to this a little later. In March 1973, the CIA had a report drawn up on the extent to which the new opportunities were about to transform Hungarian economic relationships.251 In addition to emphasising Hungary’s leading role in this area within the Bloc, the document rightly pointed out that the significance of the new trend could mainly be put down to Hungary’s hunger for technology, as they would be able to free themselves of trade quotas with the help of these firms. On top of this, the involvement of a partner with capital provided welcome relief for their financial troubles. At the time, American intelligence was not alerted to the fact that these companies immediately began to establish enterprises that could not be linked to the Bloc officially and consequently played a major role in circumventing the embargo. 251 CIA, FOIA, Intelligence Memorandum - Trading and Cooperation with Hungary, March 1973 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00875R001700050031-l.pdf (Downloaded on: 31 August 2019) 252 Vajna 1987, p. 3 253 Haár 1980 By the mid 1980s, around 200 joint ventures with registered offices in a western country were registered in Hungary,252 but we currently have no information on the number of offshore-type companies they established. The number of joint ventures with registered offices in Hungary fell markedly short of this figure: in 1980, we know of only three such firms,253 although their 93
