Foreign Intelligence Operation Launched Against Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Journalist Deeply Involved

A mysterious email was received by Mandiner from a sender identifying itself as the “Fourth Branch of Power.” According to an attached audio recording, a serious intelligence operation is underway targeting Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto. The threads of the case lead all the way to the Tisza Party, with Szabolcs Panyi and Anita Orban deeply implicated.

The material sent to the editorial office, including the letter and the attached audio, suggests that Szabolcs Panyi, a journalist for the foreign-funded outlets Direkt36 and VSquare, maintains connections with foreign intelligence services. According to the recording, Panyi provided the phone number of Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to the intelligence service of a European Union member state, thereby enabling the monitoring of the Hungarian foreign minister’s phone conversations, Mandiner wrote.

Mandiner points out that Szabolcs Panyi is not only a friend of Anita Orban, but also works together with the Tisza Party politician. In the recording received by the outlet, Panyi is heard speaking confidentially with a woman, telling her that he is in contact with a state body of an EU country, to which he provided both the phone number of Peter Szijjarto and that of his conversation partner, giving the foreign service the ability to surveille the foreign minister’s communications.

When asked which country’s service he was referring to, Panyi declined to disclose it, saying only: “I can’t tell you that,” and asked his conversation partner not to share the information with anyone.

The exchange also reveals that the unnamed foreign state body monitored Peter Szijjarto’s calls, tracking who called him and whom he called. As Panyi explained, “this works in a way that they track a number, and they have data on who that number talked to and they see who calls that number and who that number calls.”

Szabolcs Panyi (Source: Facebook)

Later in the recording, the woman asks about newly announced Tisza Party politicians, including Istvan Kapitany and Anita Orban. Panyi describes Anita Orban, who supports Ukraine’s NATO and EU membership, as his friend, and claims he continues to assist her professionally. He also states that he previously worked on her campaign team.

Describing the relationship further, Panyi says: “This is a dark secret in my life that few people know about, so you can’t pass this on. Anita was a Fidesz candidate back in 2010, then stepped back. She was taken down in the internal power struggles of that Fidesz viper's nest in the 11th district. But she had a campaign team, and I was part of it around 2009–early 2010.” He adds that 

he remains on good terms with the Tisza politician and still helps her with "certain things,"  including "professional support".

According to his own account, he maintains such a confidential relationship with Anita Orban that he could suggest who should stay or be removed if she were to become foreign minister.

Panyi also suggests that, in the event of a change in government, he could gain access to sensitive materials and files given his relationship with Anita Orban: “I can tell you,

obviously I’m going beyond what I could do as a journalist, but if there is a change, I can find these things out for you.

“I’ll tell Anita to look into it, what this was about. She already told me—we’ll solve it…” The woman responds jokingly: “You see, you don’t even need me, you can look into everything.”

 Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Photo: MTI/Tamas Purger)

The conversation then takes another turn, as Panyi suggests he could show the woman Peter Szijjarto’s conversations. He later realizes he does not have them with him, but takes out an iPod, which he says he began using during the Pegasus scandal to avoid being wiretapped himself.

Panyi also refers to a conversation between Sergey Lavrov and Peter Szijjarto, which he claims shows that in 2020 Szijjarto helped arrange a visit to Moscow for former Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini during the final stretch of Slovakia’s election campaign. According to Panyi’s interpretation, this “worked well” for Pellegrini, given that Slovak society is “quite pro-Russia.” Panyi had previously written about such a story in 2024.

He concludes by stating that he has access to such conversations because there are services—intelligence agencies—that “intercept these.”

Cover photo: Peter Magyar and Anita Orban (Source: Facebook)