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’ - The red octopus
'THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA' the ‘Hungarian Mafia was the most extreme of the red octopus organisations in western countries in preparing for the Bolshevik revolution orchestrated directly from Moscow. During their work, they gained experience in transferring black money, and mastered the art of making secret money transfers and concealed money laundering, and every aspect of underground conspiracy, so it is no surprise to find experts’ of Hungarian origin among the key players in funding internationalism in neutral Switzerland after 1945. As the worlds financial centre, Switzerland played a crucial role in the bloody history of the twentieth century even though, or maybe precisely because, the country managed to ensure neutrality throughout both World Wars. The bankers of the alpine country assisted in the safekeeping of Nazi and communist fortunes alike without so much as batting an eyelid, ensuring the flow of money, and, claiming banking secrecy, providing the opportunity for such amounts of unclear origin to be used even for illegal purposes without consequence. American intelligence, of course, was doing its best to explore the money flow within communist networks, so they were familiar with the Hungarian connections operating in Switzerland. The CIA mentioned the director of Kelimpex who went by the name of Andreas L. Gal and had a secret bank account held by the Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft in Zurich.116 Established in 1948, Kelimpex was one of the first state foreign trading companies. It was engaged in the trade of fuels, such as crude oil, different chemicals and, most probably, electronic goods, too. (Some time in 1949, the company Chemolimpex was established as a spin-off of Kelimpex.) According to the CIA, Gál was in charge of purchasing weapons and military technology on behalf of the Hungarian communist leadership, arranging secret weapons deals from his office in Switzerland. The money required to discharge these tasks, a few hundred thousand dollars according to the Americans, was deposited to the secret bank account mentioned, but the report does not say anything about the source of the money. Andreas L. 116 CIA, FOIA, Hungarian Economic Activities in Western Europe, 17 November 1949 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R003600470003-2.pdf (Downloaded on: 16 August 2019) 47
