Romanian spying accusation

THE former head of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania's Budapest office and his wife, formerly an official in the Office for Hungarians Abroad (HTMH), worked for the Romanian secret services, according to reports in the Hungarian and Romanian press.

It has also been alleged that the marriage between Tibor and Ildikó Szatmári was one of convenience. Ildikó Szatmári, it has been suggested, had affairs with two ministers, the former head of the HTMH and a spokesman for one of the two large parliamentary parties.

None of the allegations has been confirmed by security services in either country. The press department at the Education Ministry, which is headed by the Free Democrat Bálint Magyar, has also denied that Ildikó Szatmári and he ever had anything more than a professional relationship.

Tibor Szatmári told Hungarian Television that he would sue those who repeated allegations about his activities without first consulting him.

According to the weekly HVG, security services identified the pair as agents more than six months ago. An agreement was reached at the time according to which they would be allowed to remain in the country in exchange for silence over the affair. The information was first leaked to the Magyar Nemzet by sources inside the Hungarian community of Romania, HVG claims.

Spies working in the posts in question would have had access to a wealth of information about many aspects of Hungarian-Romanian relations, and would have had considerable influence over the way in which the Hungarian government's financial subsidies paid to ethnic Hungarian organizations abroad were spent.

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