The leftist Democratic Coalition party, ex-PM Bajnai Gordon's DatAdat company and the fake news portal Ezalenyeg, which is linked to the failed ex-PM Ferenc Gyurcsany, are all showing up in the village of Ujlengyel, known as a Hungarian tax haven. The key figure in the left-wing network here is believed to be an ally of Adam Ficsor, former intelligence minister in Bajnai's government.

After the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary, in an investigation on suspicion of budgetary fraud, found the accounting of DatAdat Professional Kft. in Szegi, a village of 300 inhabitants, Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet started looking into the businesses that had popped up around the left-wing alliance’s campaign.

As is well known, this group of companies, owned by former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and his then Intelligence Minister Adam Ficsor, was essentially responsible for the left-wing election campaign. And from the information provided by Peter Marki-Zay, then the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition’s rainbow coalition, it can already be known that DatAdat also benefitted from the almost two billion forints (approx. 4.8 million euros) in funding coming from the US, which was arranged by David Koranyi, the current advisor of Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony.

It has since been revealed that not only is DatAdat linked to Szegi – through the company’s accountant, Mrs Jozsef Toth – but the company that is the paying agent for the politicians of the Democratic Coalition (DK) in the European Parliament also operates here. Mrs Toth, apparently a trusted person of the party, also does the accounting for Oraculum 2020 Kft, which is the publisher of the DK-affiliated fake news site Ezalenyeg.

Magyar Nemzet has now focused on another small Hungarian village, Ujlengyel, – earlier considered a tax haven – as the same triumvirate of DK, DatAdat group and Ezalenyeg appeared hand in hand here, as well. The key figure in the strange leftist triangle in Ujlengyel is a certain Gabor Patrik Suga. This man from Miskolc had a stake in Marketing and Analytics Kft. and SGP Analytics Kft., which are now in liquidation, and with which the DK parliamentary group had previously contracted for social media consultancy services worth a total of more than 160 million forints (approx 388thousand euros). However, Mr Suga also appears around another company, Smart Data Solutions Kft., which is linked to the Bajnai’s circle.

This company is now owned by Mr Suga, but it used to belong to Adam Ficsor, the former intelligence minister, who was involved in the DatAdat group of companies with Gordon Bajnai. In addition, Smart Data Solutions Ltd. is registered at the same address in Ujlengyel as the two consultancies which previously contracted with DK.

Smart Data Solutions profiled voters using a personality test circulated on Facebook. By comparing the psychological profiles obtained through such tests and social media datasets, it is possible to draw conclusions about users and then use them to tailor ads more precisely. When completing the Smart Data Solutions test, it was explicitly required that the user log in with their Facebook profile, which required them to share their likes as well as their public data.

A similar method of profiling voters was discussed by Patrick Frank, director of information at DatAdat’s Austrian subsidiary, in a leaked audio recording in March when he said, “and what we can do is that we can use that list to target similar audiences and, you know, ask them to sign a petition, fill out a questionnaire or donate, or something similar, so that we can start to get information about them and target similar audiences through Facebook and other social media platforms.”

But it is not only Smart Data Solutions that is linked to the Hungarian tax haven and Mr Suga but another left-wing player, the DK-affiliated fake news portal Ezalenyeg, has also appeared here. Its domain was registered by a company, namely Ruffnet Zrt., which is also registered at the same address in Ujlengyel, where Smart Data Solutions Kft., SGP Analytics Kft. and Marketing and Analytics Kft. were also registered earlier, Magyar Nemzet writes, adding that it is worth having a closer look at Gabor Patrik Suga.

According to company records, the man may be a confidant of the former leftist intelligence minister, Adam Ficsor. In addition to taking over Ficsor’s former company, Smart Data Solutions Kft, Mr Suga also has several joint interests with a person named David Sipos, whose mother, Ilona Ficsor, is presumably a relative of the former minister. This is supported by the fact that Mr Sipos was previously co-owner of Smart Data Solutions Kft. and DatAdat Professional Kft. The latter is the core company of the DatAdat Group.