Hungarian Socialist parlt official queries security agency on Pegasus spyware scandal

Attila Mesterházy, the Socialist deputy head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, on Friday turned to the director general of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (AH) to ask about the use of the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware in Hungary.

Mesterházy told an online news conference after his meeting with Szabolcs Bárdos, the office’s director general, that he had not been told whether the Hungarian government was using the spyware. Neither was the director general authorised to reveal whether those named in the media had actually been surveilled using Pegasus, he added.

The politician said he had been told by Bárdos that no lawmaker had been under surveillance in the recent period. He also cited the AH director general as saying that the agency did not select its targets based on their job or position.

If the AH wants to surveil someone, it must turn to the Special Service for National Security and obtain permission from a court or the justice minister, Mesterházy cited Bárdos as saying.