Ex-MI6 spook, 73, under investigation after ‘passing sensitive information to China’
A FORMER MI6 spook was last night at the centre of an espionage probe for allegedly passing sensitive information to China.
Fraser Cameron, 73, was reported to be under investigation by the Belgian security services.
But tonight Mr Cameron, who runs a Brussels think-tank, fiercely denied the claims, branding them “absurd” and “without foundation”.
And he added: “The allegations themselves are obviously damaging but they really are absurd if you just stop to think about them for a minute.”
Two Belgian newspapers and news website Politico yesterday said the investigation focused on his contacts with two Chinese “journalists” in Brussels.
Belgian security sources said the reporters were in fact working for the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the Chinese military.
Mr Cameron is suspected of being paid “thousands of euros” for providing secret political and economic details to Chinese about European institutions, the reports claimed.
‘CLOE TO BEIJING’
One European Commission official also said Mr Cameron was known to be “very close to Beijing.”
But Mr Cameron also denied this, saying he only gets “a small annual grant” from the Chinese diplomatic mission to the EU.
No details of any possible charges were revealed and espionage is not a crime under Belgian law.
Politico reported the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office had opened the investigation over fears Mr Cameron’s alleged contacts could pose “a risk for European officials”.
Mr Cameron, who describes himself as a “foreign policy wonk” on Twitter, held a raft of senior roles over his career.
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They included his work acting as a European Commission adviser and as Political Counsellor in the EU Delegation in Washington.
Mr Cameron said he “had a wide range of Chinese contacts as part of my duties with the EU-Asia Centre and some of them may have a double function.”
But he added: “I retired 15 years ago from official employment and have zero access to any sensitive information.”
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