Prince Andrew was seen as a ‘valuable communication channel’ by China, newly released court papers have revealed.
The documents, reviewed the The Sunday Times, claim that a senior aide to the Duke of York was questioned by MI5 about his ‘clandestine’ relationship with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
Andrew, 64, and Yang, 50, first met in 2013 at a reception hosted by the former head of McLaren during the Shanghai Grand Prix.
Yang reportedly became Andrew’s confidant and helped launch his Dragons’ Den-style Pitch@Palace business initiative in China.
The papers were released on Friday by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) following Yang’s failure to overturn his ban from Britain.
He denies wrongdoing or being a spy.
British intelligence officials suspect that Yang is affiliated with the United Front Work Department, a Chinese organisation involved in political interference abroad.
The newly released documents also revealed that MI5 built its case against Yang after a Mail on Sunday exposé.
An exclusive investigation by this newspaper in 2020 detailed how a lobbying firm set up by Yang Tengbo had gained access to key establishment figures, including the Duke of York.
MoS revealed how Yang, 50, was a former Chinese government official whose firm, Hampton Group, secured links to Andrew’s organisation Pitch@Palace.
The suspected spook would later be stopped by police at Heathrow airport and have his mobile phone, laptop and iPad seized. He was banned from the UK on national security grounds.
Now, a cache of court papers, released last Friday, reveal how he appealed to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPCO) in a bid to force MI5 and the police to destroy a series of bombshell documents they had downloaded from his electronic devices.
It led to the UK authorities disclosing to him the ‘open source’ material they had gathered – including our story, which they then used to justify the retention of his data.
In one document, Yang accused the Home Office of relying on this newspaper’s reporting about him and argued he should be granted anonymity.
He said: ‘I know that the Home Office is prepared to rely on media stories in relation to its claims about me. Further reporting of this nature would be very harmful to, among other matters, my business interests and the Hampton Group.’
In another document, Yang’s lawyer claimed Buckingham Palace knew about his association with Pitch@Palace.
Yang lost his bid to force the Government to destroy his files but he was granted anonymity and was known only as ‘H6’ until reporting restrictions were lifted in December.
Other court documents revealed extraordinary details of the Duke of York’s connections with Yang.
One document found on Yang’s phone claimed Andrew planned to raise $3 billion for an initiative called the Eurasia Fund. Yang was authorised to act on behalf of the duke in talking to potential Chinese investors for the fund.
He said last week the allegations were unfounded, adding: ‘I have done nothing wrong.’