A British businessman accused of spying for China reported to a high-ranking intelligence officer closely linked to President Xi Jinping, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
John Miller, who the MoS last week revealed was the subject of an FBI sting operation, was arrested with his ‘handler’, Cui Guanghai, just hours before they were due to board a flight to Beijing.
Both men are accused of trying to buy weapons and sensitive military technology in the United States for the People’s Liberation Army.
This newspaper can now reveal that Cui, 43, is an Edinburgh University graduate suspected of working for China’s military intelligence and described as ‘important’ to President Xi.
Court documents claim Miller, a 63-year-old recruitment specialist from Tunbridge Wells, was ‘working for and being directed by’ Cui. The two men were once pictured together in London’s Chinatown. Other images on social media show Cui and his wife at locations in Edinburgh, Dublin and London, including the Houses of Parliament.
Britain’s security services are understood to be liaising with the FBI, examining both Cui’s activities in the UK and Miller’s background.
Last night Miller’s sister Avril said: ‘I am totally devastated and shocked, but it has nothing to do with me. I last saw him at a wedding 14 years ago.’
The MoS revealed last week that Miller was caught on intercepted phone calls referring to Xi as ‘the boss’, suggesting he was acting under the control of the Chinese government.
Now it can be disclosed that Miller once accompanied Cui on a business trip to Colonel Gaddafi-era Libya, a country with close economic ties to China. A family friend said: ‘He [Miller] told me he was starting a business building prefab houses for Africa which he was having made in China.’
The detention of Cui and Miller in Belgrade, Serbia – where they remain under house arrest – is believed to have led to a diplomatic row. China’s ambassador to Serbia, Li Ming, is said to have clashed with the country’s interior minister, Ivica Dacic.
A source said Mr Li demanded to know why Cui – whom he called ‘our agent’ and ‘important’ to President Xi – was arrested at the behest of the FBI. China is the biggest foreign investor in Serbia.
Miller and Cui were seized at the city’s Hyatt Regency Hotel on April 24 having flown in from Hungary where they met business associates – and apparently fell into an FBI trap. Sources say agents waited for Cui to leave China for Europe before issuing the arrest order.
Both men now face extradition to the US. It is not clear how Cui and Miller first met. The Englishman once ran a company bringing Chinese students to the UK, while his son from his first marriage has been based in China for years and is a close friend of Cui.
Court documents claim Miller organised the surveillance and harassment of a Chinese-American artist critical of Beijing, telling a henchman to make him an ‘offer he can’t refuse… like The Godfather’.
Miller has been charged in the US with smuggling, stalking and violations of the Arms Export Control Act. If convicted, both he and Cui face up to 40 years in prison.
A 14-page indictment filed in Wisconsin alleges that Miller was caught in a sting after arms dealers he was negotiating with turned out to be undercover FBI agents.
Family and friends of Miller, who described him as outgoing and charismatic, expressed astonishment at the news. The son of a builder from the Gorbals in Glasgow, Miller grew up one of six children on a council estate in Coventry, sharing a bedroom with his three brothers.
A family friend said he had ‘a real drive about him and was always looking for the next big thing’. They added: ‘He had a hard time growing up and was driven by success. He wanted a nice life; he wasn’t going to stay on a council estate. Eight of them in a three-bed house wasn’t easy. And then their mum died when she was only 43. That was tough for all of them. Of them all, Johnny was a bit different, a one-off.
‘He always had big ambitions.’
Miller went into the Armed Forces, becoming a boxer representing the Royal Navy. It was during this time he met his first wife, ‘a Puerto Rican beauty’, with whom he had two children. They lived in the US, where Miller retains residency status, but later divorced. His daughter from his second marriage attended one of England’s top public schools. Friends describe a chequered business history. Miller has been a director or a majority shareholder of at least nine firms, including a courier company.
‘When I last saw him at a wedding over ten years ago, he was flying,’ said a friend.
‘His company had bases in London and New York, and he drove a nice Saab.’
But at some point his fortunes waned and he was reduced to asking family and friends for loans. ‘I think he saw an opportunity in China,’ said another friend. ‘He was hyperactive when it came to work.’ The US court documents allege that Miller attempted to procure equipment including surface-to-air missiles, predator drones and a handheld device for the secure communication of ‘classified and sensitive national security information’.
A second 67-page indictment, filed in California, accuses Miller and Cui, also known as ‘Jack’, of targeting artist Hui Bo, who had created an ’embarrassing’ sculpture of Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan naked from the waist up.
Transcripts between Miller and an associate allege they discussed shooting Hui or hitting him with a baseball bat.
According to court documents, Miller said: ‘It’s the message they give. You know? We’re gonna make sure you’re not f****** walking. We’re gonna put you in a wheelchair for three f****** months or something.’
By Abul Taher in Belgrade
The decision to arrest John Miller and his alleged handler, Cui Guanghai, stoked diplomatic tensions in two European countries.
An opportunity to seize the two men arose when they travelled to Budapest for a business meeting. Miller flew in from London, Cui from Beijing. But Hungary’s pro-China president, Viktor Orban, refused an FBI request to detain them on an Interpol Red Notice which is effectively an international arrest warrant.
Unaware of the FBI interest in them, Miller and Cui then flew to neighbouring Serbia, where the authorities agreed to detain them.
Shortly after the arrest, the Chinese ambassador in Belgrade, Li Ming, visited interior minister, Ivica Dacic, and, according to a source, a ‘row’ ensued.
The source said Mr Li told the Serbian that Cui was ‘our agent’ and ‘important’ to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, adding that his arrest had put a strain on Serbia’s critical economic relationship with China, its biggest foreign investor. Bilateral trade between the two nations is currently worth £4.4billion a year.
Although they are accused of weapons smuggling, Miller and Cui face extradition for the lesser charge of harassing and stalking Los Angeles-based Chinese-American artist Hui Bo, a critic of President Xi, who created an ’embarrassing’ sculpture of the Communist leader and his wife naked from the waist up, kneeling on sand.
The two spy suspects were sent to Central Prison, two miles from Belgrade city centre, where former president and war criminal Slobodan Milosevic was once held. A month ago Miller and Cui appointed one of Serbia’s most controversial lawyers, Goran Petronijevic, to challenge the extradition.
Mr Petronijevic is famous for defending Milosevic during his four-year trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide, which ended when the former leader died.
Miller and Cui have since been moved to house arrest at two separate rented flats, apparently organised by Mr Petronijevic. The pair wear electronic tags, and are not allowed to leave their respective properties.
There are now fears that Chinese spies may try to help Cui to escape given that he is a suspected senior Chinese intelligence official.
Last night, Mr Dacic, who is also one of Serbia’s deputy prime ministers, appeared to play down the diplomatic row, saying: ‘Every country is interested in its citizens and that is normal. There were no inconveniences.’