Mysterious Hungarian company linked to exploding pagers
By Justin Spike
Budapest: In a duplex in a quiet neighbourhood of the Hungarian capital is the headquarters of a company that is linked to the manufacture of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria as part of an apparent Israeli operation against the Hezbollah militant group.
BAC Consulting shares the ground floor of the modest building in Budapest with other enterprises. On Wednesday morning, Associated Press journalists saw the names of multiple companies, including BAC, posted on pieces of printer paper and taped in a window.
A view of the head office of the BAC Consulting company in Budapest, Hungary. Credit: Getty Images
In a corporate registry, the company listed 118 official functions, including sugar and oil production, retail jewellery sales and natural gas extraction.
BAC reportedly supplied the thousands of devices that killed at least 12 people, including two children, and wounded about 2800 on Tuesday in a coordinated attack that Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed on Israel.
More attacks were reported on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), when walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in multiple parts of Lebanon. The second wave of attacks killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 450, the Health Ministry said.
Elod Novak, a member of the National Assembly of Hungary tries to get into the BAC Consulting company in Budapest.Credit: Getty Images
The Taiwanese company whose brand appears on the pagers, Gold Apollo, said it had authorised the use of its name on the devices.
BAC was authorised “to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement.
A Hungarian government spokesman said the pagers were never in Hungary and that BAC Consultants merely acted as an intermediary.
“Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary. It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary,” Zoltán Kovács posted on X.
A view of the head office of the BAC Consulting KFT company on September in Budapest.Credit: Getty Images
Hungarian national security services were cooperating with international partners, and the matter posed no national security risk to Hungary, he added.
BAC Consulting, which was registered as a limited liability company in May 2022, brought in $US725,000 in revenue in 2022 and $US593,000 in 2023, according to the company registry.
Its CEO is Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, who describes herself on LinkedIn as a strategic adviser and business developer with a doctorate.
The AP attempted to reach Bársony-Arcidiacono by email and social media sites but received no response. It was not clear what connection, if any, she or BAC had to the attack.
She describes herself as a physicist and a consultant for projects to solve environmental and political issues. She co-authored a paper in 2022 for a UNESCO conference on underground water management.
Among other positions, Bársony-Arcidiacono’s LinkedIn page said she serves on the board of directors of the Earth Child Institute, a sustainability group. But the group does not list Bársony-Arcidiacono among its board members on its website.
AP
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