Box of books ‘Chinese spy’ threw away add more mystery to Prince Andrew links
A box of books belonging to a man alleged to be a Chinese Spy were found dumped on the lawn outside his house this morning.
It was revealed at theHigh Court earlier this week that the alleged Chinese spy who has been banned from the UK was called Yang Tengbo, but also goes by Chris Yang.
Mr Yang is said to have links to Prince Andrew and was banned from the UK by MI5 last week due to the potential security threat.
The new owner of the house at the centre of the allegations said he found a stash of Pitch @ Palace promotional material left behind.
The books were part of Prince Andrew’s scheme to promote UK entrepreneurs internationally.
He told the Metro: ‘I can dine out on this story hopefully. There was nothing left behind apart from the books.
‘I bought the place through on agent and met a couple of Chinese people but there was nothing unusual.’
He said he had been told the company Hampton Group – which was run by Chinese business people – used the property to accommodate staff who were working in the central London office of the group.
The new owner of the house at the centre of the allegations said he found a stash of Pitch @ Palace promotional material left behind.
The books were part of Prince Andrew’s scheme to promote UK entrepreneurs internationally.
The house was sold to the new owner for just under £1m with the deal going through just before the spying allegations emerged.
He told the Metro: ‘I can dine out on this story hopefully. There was nothing left behind apart from the books.
‘I bought the place through on agent and met a couple of Chinese people but there was nothing unusual.’
He said he had been told the company Hampton Group – which was run by Chinese business people – to accommodate staff who were working in the central London office of the group.
In a statemen yesterday, Yang, 50, said he has ‘done nothing wrong or unlawful’, adding that the ‘widespread description of me as a “spy” is entirely untrue’.
He had been under an anonymity order known only as ‘H6’ until he revealed his name publicly to deny the allegations against him.
Mr Yang was living in a converted library in west London, and a neighbour told Metro how ‘flash cars’ and ‘perfectly turned out’ Chinese office staff were the talk of the quiet suburban street in Hampton.
His former home is one of the biggest on the street where he was alleged to be running an espionage ring.
One neighbour, 51, told Metro: ‘There were lots of flash cars pulling up and perfectly turned out office staff in and out. The women working in there were immaculate.
‘We did think it was strange that they were apparently running a business from there all the neighbours were a bit perplexed and were talking about it.
‘This is a street where you could genuinely say before this ‘nothing ever happens’.
‘We are totally shocked to be centre stage in a suspected spy story, very James Bond. It’s exciting really, my sister rang me when she saw it on the news, we are really on the map now.’
Another neighbour told Metro: ‘When the Chinese moved in it was a bit odd as we thought it was going to be a family moving in.
‘We were a bit taken aback when all the office furniture started to arrive. Having said that there was nothing to raise alarm bells there.
‘They went about their business and didn’t interact with the local community. Now we may know why I suppose.’
In a statement, 50-year-old Yang said he has ‘done nothing wrong or unlawful’, adding that the ‘widespread description of me as a “spy” is entirely untrue’.
Yang’s lawyer Guy Vassall-Adams KC told the High Court: ‘There has been an enormous amount of media reporting in relation to this story, and particularly in relation to the relationship between my client, H6, and Prince Andrew, as well as a huge amount of speculation about the identity of my client.’
In a letter found by investigators, an advisor to the Duke of York told him: ‘You sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.’
Full statement from Yang Tengbo
Due to the high level of speculation and misreporting in the media and elsewhere, I have asked my legal team to disclose my identity. I have done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded. The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.
This is why I applied for a review of the Home Office decision in the first place, and why I am seeking permission to appeal the SIAC decision. It is also why an order extending my anonymity up to the point of determination of the appeal process was granted.
I have been excluded from seeing most of the evidence that was used against me under a process which is widely acknowledged by SIAC practitioners as inherently unfair: decisions are made based on secret evidence and closed proceedings, which has been described as ‘taking blind shots at a hidden target’.
On their own fact finding, even the three judges in this case concluded that there was ‘not an abundance of evidence’ against me, their decision was ‘finely balanced’, and there could be an ‘innocent explanation’ for my activities. This has not been reported in the media.
The political climate has changed, and unfortunately, I have fallen victim to this. When relations are good, and Chinese investment is sought, I am welcome in the UK. When relations sour, an anti-China stance is taken, and I am excluded.
I am an independent self-made entrepreneur and I have always aimed to foster partnerships and build bridges between East and West. I have dedicated my professional life in the UK to building links between British and Chinese businesses. My activities have played a part in bringing hundreds of millions of pounds of investment into the UK.
I built my private life in the UK over two decades and love the country as my second home. I would never do anything to harm the interests of the UK.
It added: ‘I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family.
‘You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship.’
China today claims that Mr Yang had used his links with Britain’s Prince Andrew to spy for Beijing were ‘preposterous’, after the UK government voiced mounting concerns over the allegations.
Asked about the case while on a visit to Norway, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain was ‘concerned about the challenge that China poses’ but defended his approach of ‘engagement’ with Beijing.
A spokesman for Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the ‘accusations of so-called Chinese espionage are preposterous’.
‘The development of China-UK relations is in the common interests of both countries and is also conducive to promoting world economic growth and responding to global challenges,’ Lin Jian said.
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