Fidesz politician accidentally confirmed that Orbán’s government bought Pegasus spy software – Denník N

The Hungarian government has been very cautious about the use of Pegasus spyware following the outbreak of an international wiretapping scandal.

Members of the government either denied that they had anything to do with the purchase of the software, or responded only with general phrases stating that the law had been followed and that no illegal interceptions had taken place.

International team of investigative journalists revealed the Pegasus case on July 18.

The software manufacturer is the Israeli company NSO and its interesting thing is that it allows you to not only gain access to all the data on your mobile, but it can also turn on the microphone and camera remotely.

Pegasus was designed to track criminals and terrorists. However, some governments have also used it to intercept opposition politicians, businessmen, lawyers and journalists. Among them were several Hungarian investigative journalists who wrote critically about Viktor Orbán’s government.

However, the Orbans consistently denied not only that they misused the software for political purposes, but also did not admit that the government had bought it.

The deputy spoke

However, a breakthrough came after a meeting of the parliamentary security committee on November 4, at which opposition deputies also asked questions about the use of spyware. Fosz MP and Deputy Prime Minister Lajos Kósa received a question from RTL Klub whether the Pegasus software was ordered by the Ministry of the Interior. “Yes. Pegasus is software, simple software. Many of them work, which are used by the competent authorities in their national security activities. I don’t see anything problematic in that. “

Kosa revealed this information despite the fact that the committee meeting was closed to the public and the answers to the questions of the opposition deputies were kept secret until 2050. Did he say this or did he say this to the public intentionally?