Two European firms in focus of Hezbollah pager explosions

A Hungarian firm, BAC Consulting, has been linked to the thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving nearly 3,000 wounded, Deutsche Welle reported.

The name of the Budapest-based firm first cropped up in a statement by a Taiwanese manufacturer, Gold Apollo, whose label appeared on the devices. Gold Apollo said it did not manufacture the devices and that they were made by its Hungarian partner, BAC Consulting.

"The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," Gold Apollo founder and president Hsu Ching-kuang told reporters at the company's offices in the northern Taiwanese city of New Taipei on Wednesday.

"We may not be a large company, but we are a responsible one," he said. "This is very embarrassing."

Gold Apollo said in a statement that the AR-924 pager model was produced and sold by BAC, which it said was authorized to use its trademark for product sales in specific regions. "The design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC," the statement said.

Hsu said there had been problems with remittances from BAC, the Reuters news agency reported.

"The remittance was very strange," Reuters and others reported him as saying at a press conference. He added that payments had come through the Middle East.

Hsu didn't elaborate further, and didn't provide any proof of a contract with BAC showing that his company has had a licensing agreement for the past three years.

Meanwhile, Telex, a Hungarian media outlet, has reported that it was actually Norta Global, a company based in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, that supplied the pagers to Hezbollah. The Bulgarian company, owned by a Norwegian citizen, was reportedly behind the deal with Gold Apollo, although on paper it was BAC that signed the contract, Telex wrote.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that BAC was part of an Israeli front and that at least two other shell companies were created as well to obfuscate links to Israeli intelligence officers.

What does BAC Consulting do?

According to BAC Consulting's website, the firm develops "international technology cooperation among countries for the sale of telecommunication products." It adds that the cooperation involves "scaling up a business from Asia to new markets e.g. developing countries."

The company, which claims to have over a decade of consulting experience, lists telecommunication as one of its key areas of expertise, and says it integrates "the best past technological lessons and practices from different geographical areas."

BAC Consulting also lists the Nelkhael gold jewel collection as one of its businesses, saying it assists in the branding and marketing of the jewelry line.

According to the official company register in Hungary, BAC is involved in activities ranging from the manufacture of electronic medical devices and electronic components to the extraction of natural gas and crude oil. 

Meanwhile, Hungary has officially responded to the pager issue. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on social media platform X that BAC "is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary." He added that the pagers in question have never been in Hungary.

What do we know about the Bulgarian firm?

Citing sources familiar with the case, Telex reported that BAC Consulting CEO Barsony-Arcidiacono was in contact with Norta Global. It said that it was the Bulgarian company, not BAC Consulting, that imported the pagers from Taiwan.

Responding to the report, Bulgarian authorities said no customs operations related to the pagers had occurred in the country. They confirmed that they were investigating any potential involvement of Norta Global in the supply chain.

Norta Global was established on April 14, 2022, around the same time BAC was registered with the Hungarian authorities. The company was registered with an initial paid-in capital of 200 Bulgarian levs. Norta Global claims to offer management consulting services but doesn't mention any manufacturing operation.