Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar has alleged that Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office is employing private intelligence agencies to gather potentially compromising  personal information on him and his associates.

The leader of the Tisza Party said Fidesz would launch an unprecedented smear campaign against him this week, which will include wiretapped conversations of  MEPs, secret recordings by his former girlfriend  and false claims generated by AI.

At a press conference on November 9 titled "Hungarian Watergate, the largest scandal since the change of regime",  Magyar presented alleged evidence that his former partner Evelin Vogel had made audio recordings in secret and had demanded HUF30mn (€74,000) to keep silent.

The politician alleged that his former partner had made an agreement with the ruling Fidesz party, handing over 11 hours of audio recordings, and had tried to blackmail people tied to the Tisza Party.

According to Magyar, his ex-wife, former justice minister Judit Varga, and Vogel receive monthly payments from an associate of Antal Rogan, the head of Orban’s cabinet office and the person overseeing Hungary’s intelligence services and the person behind the alleged smear campaign. Vogel lives in a downtown apartment in Budapest owned by a businessman close to Rogan and regularly receives HUF5mn in cash for her "services".

Vogel accused his former partner of aggressive behaviour in a video interview with Hungary’s leading online portal index.hu, and later did the same on Facebook.   At a press conference, Magyar said he would file a complaint against Vogel for blackmail.

The former Fidesz cadre has been the target of an unprecedented smear campaign since he launched his Tisza Party, which according to the latest polls, has overtaken Fidesz.

Magyar cited upcoming "unprecedented" attacks, which he said would include AI-manipulated recordings mixed with real content, the discussions of Tisza Party members and materials acquired from Vogel. The fabricated content, he said, is set to be uploaded to Objectiv.hu in the coming days.

The Tisza Party leader claimed that the planned disinformation campaign would target other popular public figures, known for their dissent for the ruling party. Fidesz will likely disseminate information or fabricated materials about the sexual misconduct of these persons, specifically focusing on their known homosexuality.

Magyar recalled that several former intelligence officials had informed him of state involvement in the harassment of his colleagues and associates. He added that insights from these sources convinced him that his office, car, and home have been under surveillance, although he could not provide evidence of that.

At the end of his press conference, Magyar appealed to Finance Minister Mihaly Varga to give an account of the real state of the economy. According to his knowledge, Istvan Tiborcz, the prime minister's son-in-law, is giving direct instructions to National Economy Minister Marton Nagy on certain policy measures. Recently, the government acquired an office building built by the companies of Tiborcz for at least 30-40% above the market price, he claimed.

At the end of the press conference, Magyar also made a plea to Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, calling on him to "stand up for the country" and intervene in what he called a disturbing misuse of state power against his party. Pinter used to oversee the operations of Hungary’s intelligence services until the 2022 elections, after which these were handed over to Rogan.