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 This enterprise will be the first of its kind. Siemens has one [an agreement] also with the Soviet OMFB, which may not be as big as what we have over here. [...] In the meantime, Sebestyén has been to Moscow. Their experience is good. We set this up as a model, it was urged by Siemens because Siemens has made more progress in Hungary than any other firm in West Germany,” ‘ Fábián revealed in a telephone conversation about the framework agreement.495 495 Ibid. p. 106-107. 496 Ibid. p. 113. 497 ÁBTL 3.1.9 V-160121/2. 43. Supplementary report, 29 August 1973 In January and February 1973, the Sebestyén-Geist duo also backed out of pushing the vehemently advertised Siemens computers forced onto industrial companies. Apparently, however, Simon was not informed of this. Zsolt Náray, director of the Institute for Computer Technology (SZKI), decided in early 1973 that he would sell the Siemens computer they purchased at the suggestion of the OMFB because it was unfit for their purpose: “I, acting as the SZKI, was given this grant by Mr Sebestyén to buy this machine. (Note: A Siemens 4004/45 computer worth 650,000 US dollars.) This machine should run, and we should establish an agreement with you. Nothing came of it. I am selling this computer because I cannot carry on like this. This is an inevitable step after three years.”496 The Siemens computer mentioned by Náray was a further developed version of the Mitra-15 manufactured by a French company, the Compagnie International pour ITnformatique (CII). When the programme of the Unified Computing System launched, the Hungarian state purchased this licence for the R10 computer manufactured by Videoton. The success of the French company in the Hungarian market could, of course, be put down to the OMFB, which seemed to have been lobbying surprisingly in favour of CII, while Siemens wanted to sell its own computers in Hungary. In 1968 and 1969, for example, the OMFB was willing to give Ganz-MÁVAG a grant to buy a computer only if it purchased the computers of the French company mentioned above. The deal was struck, but the equipment was unfit to perform the tasks it was intended for.497 During the investigation, state security concluded that what lay behind the support provided by the 179
