2024-09-20 06:03:20
The Hungarian government has categorically denied any involvement in the production of explosive pagers supplied to Hezbollah.
This was reported by the Telegram channel “Today in Israel”.
According to press secretary Zoltán Kovács, the Hungarian company mentioned in connection with the incident acted only as an intermediary. There were no production facilities at its registered address, he said, and it was managed by a single employee.
Kovacs also stressed that these devices were never on Hungarian territory. In the original, his words sound like this: “These devices were never on Hungarian territory.”
Earlier, Cursor reported on Hungary’s possible involvement in the detonation of Hezbollah pagers.
In a surprising turn of events, Taiwanese company Gold Apollo announced that it had disassociated itself from Hezbollah pagers that bore its logo. In a statement, the company clarified that the actual manufacturer of the devices was Hungarian firm BAC, which was operating under license. Gold Apollo noted that the agreement granted the right to use its trademark to sell the products in certain regions, but that BAC was solely responsible for the development and production of the devices. “Our company is not involved in the development or production of this product,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the investigation into BAC is raising more and more questions, including speculation that the Hungarian company may be a front for those behind the massive operation to hand over pagers to the Lebanese gang.
Gold Apollo CEO Xu Jing-guang told reporters in Taipei that his company has been doing business with BAC for the past three years. However, the Associated Press notes that Xu was unable to provide documents to support the business relationship. He did, however, mention an interesting detail: He said that BAC’s “payment methods were quite strange,” as the payments were made through the Middle East, but Xu declined to provide further details.
The investigation into BAC has only added to the company’s mystique. The firm’s website is down, and its registered address is a two-story private home. BAC’s sole owner is listed as 49-year-old Cristian Arcidiacono-Barsony, who has Italian and Hungarian roots. An analysis of her activities also raises questions: although the company was registered in 2022, Arcidiacono claims to have run BAC since 2019. Furthermore, her listed address in Budapest is an ordinary apartment, which clearly does not correspond to the scale of the company’s alleged operations.
Barsogne-Arcidiacono has an impressive CV: a PhD from University College London, a postdoctoral fellowship at the London School of Economics, and consulting work for organisations including the European Commission and UNESCO. But her connection to pager maker BAC remains a mystery, and her role in the story is not yet fully understood.