Hungarian firm linked to pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria

Author: Justin Spike | Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary — A two-story building in a quiet neighborhood of the Hungarian capital houses the headquarters of a company linked to the production of pagers that have exploded in Lebanon and Syria as part of an alleged Israeli operation against the militant group Hezbollah.

BAC Consulting shares the ground floor of a modest building in Budapest with other businesses. On Wednesday morning, Associated Press journalists saw the names of many companies, including BAC, stamped on pieces of printer paper and taped to the window.

The company listed 118 official functions in its corporate registry, including sugar and oil production, jewellery retailing and natural gas extraction.

BAC reportedly delivered thousands of the devices that killed at least 12 people, including two children, and wounded about 2,800 on Tuesday in a coordinated attack that Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed on Israel.

More attacks were reported on Wednesday as walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in parts of Lebanon. A second wave of attacks killed at least nine people and injured more than 300, the Health Ministry said.

The Taiwanese company whose brand appears on the pagers, Gold Apollo, said on Wednesday that it had given permission for its name to be used on the devices.

BAC has been authorized to “use our brand trademark to sell products in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products is the sole responsibility of BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement.

A Hungarian government spokesman said the pagers were never found in Hungary and that BAC Consultants only acted as an intermediary.

“The authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a commercial intermediary, with no production or place of operation in Hungary. It has one manager registered at the given address, and the devices in question have never been in Hungary,” Zoltán Kovács wrote on X on Wednesday.

He added that the Hungarian national security services are cooperating with international partners and the case does not pose a threat to Hungary’s national security.

According to the Companies Register, BAC Consulting, registered as a limited liability company in May 2022, had revenue of $725,000 in 2022 and $593,000 in 2023.

The company’s CEO is Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, who describes herself on LinkedIn as a strategic advisor and business development specialist with a Ph.D.

BAC may be an acronym, in the eastern order of names used in Hungary, for Bársony-Arcidiacono Cristiana.

The AP tried to contact Bársony-Arcidiacono by email and social media but did not receive a response. It was unclear what connection, if any, she or BAC had to the attack.

She describes herself as a physicist and consultant on projects aimed at solving environmental and political problems. She co-authored a paper in 2022 for the UNESCO conference on groundwater management.

Among other positions, Bársona-Arcidiacono’s LinkedIn page says she serves on the board of the Earth Child Institute, a sustainability advocacy group. However, the group does not list Bársona-Arcidiacono among its board members on its website.

He also writes that he is a strategic advisor to major international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the humanitarian agency CARE, as well as venture capital firms.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that a person named Cristiana Arcidiacino was an intern at the agency for nine months in 2008 and 2009. Other connections could not immediately be confirmed.

In an article about herself published on the expert’s website, Bársona-Arcidiacono said: “A good understanding of local issues and a network of collaborators in different areas are essential to success.”
BAC Consulting’s website, which became inaccessible on Wednesday, describes the firm’s areas of expertise as “environment, development and international affairs.”