Hungarian Premier Gordon Bajnai on Monday accepted the resignation of Sandor Laborc, the head of Hungary's National Security Office, the Prime Minister's Office told local news agency MTI, according to dpa. Laborc was a controversial figure due to his communist-era past as a graduate of a top KGB academy in the Soviet Union. His resignation came in the wake of a scandal over a private security firm that was suspected of spying on politicians and hacking into state computers. The secret services chief cited "anomalies" in official investigations into the affair (which resulted in no serious charges being brought) as reasons for his decision to stand down. Prime Minister Bajnai said Laborc had "modernized" Hungary's secret service operations during his time in the job and will remain at his post until September 1. Laborc spent six years at the KGB's Dzerzhinsky Academy in Moscow in the 1980s, and his appointment in December 2007 by Hungary's socialist government was strongly criticized by the opposition.
