The Chinese businessman at the heart of the alleged Prince Andrew spy scandal has been revealed as Yang Tengbo.
The 50-year-old director of a Chinese investment consultancy firm was barred from the UK in 2023 after it was deemed he would likely pose a threat to national security.
A High Court judge has now lifted an anonymity order so he can now be identified following pressure from MPs demanding he be named.
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Mr Yang was found with letters addressed to Beijing’s United Front Work Department – a shadowy arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tasked with gaining influence over foreign officials – after he was detained in 2019.
His case only came to light after he challenged his removal from the UK at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission – which was dismissed on Thursday.
The review revealed Mr Yang, who set up his company in 2005, was able to become a close confidant of Prince Andrew and acted on his behalf with investors in China.
He is said to have used his high-profile connections to secure invitations to Buckingham Palace and other royal residences, with fresh reports alleging he also met two former prime ministers.
The Sunday Times claimed he met David Cameron at a Downing Street reception and Theresa May at a black-tie event, which took place over the last 15 years in his London office.
On Thursday, judges ruled that former Home Secretary Suella Braverman had been “entitled to conclude” that he “represented a risk to the national security” and to remove him from the UK.
Mr Yang studied at university in China and worked as a junior civil servant for a number of years, according to the judgment.
In 2002, he moved to the UK and studied a master’s degree in public administration and public policy at the University of York.
Three years later Mr Yang founded a Chinese investment consultancy business which would go on to establish various high-profile China-related events.
Evidence provided to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission alleged a text message was found on his phone introducing himself as an overseas representative of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body central to the CCP’s United Front system.
An interim anonymity order was in place for the businessman, who was previously referred to only by the codename H6.
However, pressure grew for him to be identified after MPs threatened to use parliamentary privilege – which provides legal immunity – to name him.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the Mail on Sunday that H6 should be “named immediately”, saying that a failure to do so “smacks of an establishment cover up”.
He added: “If it’s not resolved in the courts, he should be named in the Commons. It’s clearly in the national interest.”
Labour MP Graham Stringer told the paper that it was “ludicrous” for H6 to remain anonymous “in the country he was allegedly spying on”.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith is believed to be seeking a Commons debate on Mr Yang’s alleged activities, despite the parliamentary convention that MPs avoid discussing the affairs of senior members of the royal family.
China-hawk Sir Iain said that parliament has a “right to know” because the Royals are at the top of the government.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…
