Dominic Hampshire, a key aide to Prince Andrew, is requesting that a court keep his account of the Duke’s relationship with an alleged Chinese spy from public view. Mr Hampshire played a critical part in the development of Yang Tengbo’s relationship with Prince Andrew. However, the complete details of what occurred between the three men remain unknown. Silicitors representing the BBC and other news organizations argued against Mr Hampshire on Friday that he could not maintain his account of events confidential because he was unaware of the possibility of publicity.
In December, an intelligence review discovered that Mr Yang had built an “unusual degree of trust” with the prince and had failed to reveal his connections to a Chinese Communist Party division covertly active in political interference. Following this report, a court refused Mr Yang’s appeal to declare him admissible to the UK and deemed him a threat to national security.
The BBC and other media outlets are currently requesting that Siac, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, release Mr Hampshire’s witness statement, which he wrote in support of Mr Yang only after British intelligence contacted him initially. Mr Hampshire’s lawyers argued in court that he had secured a pledge from Mr Yang’s legal representatives that his witness statement would remain private. He only learned it might be made public once he attended the appeal hearing in July.
Adam Wolanski KC, who represented the media groups, contended that Mr Hampshire’s account had high public importance and should be disclosed to the media, along with other currently confidential papers. “It is exceptional that an individual in Mr. Hampshire’s position, apparently charged with managing sensitive and confidential material on behalf of Prince Andrew, did not bother to seek legal guidance before offering a witness statement to Mr. Yang,” Mr. Wolanski argued in written statements.
Following the debut of the BBC’s Newsnight episode in November 2019, which outlined Prince Andrew’s connection with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Mr Yang became a very close confidante to the Duke. As a result of the ramifications of the program, Prince Andrew withdrew from public engagements and put an end to Dragon’s Den-style events that were successful commercially in the UK and China. In a letter dated March 2020, Mr Hampshire informed Mr Yang that he had been able to recover Prince Andrew’s reputation in China. Seven months later, the businessman was authorised to work on a planned $3bn investment fund in China, with which Prince Andrew is associated.
The Eurasia Fund initiative aimed to amass funds to finance Chinese state projects in Africa and the Middle East. Developing those nations is a vital component of the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to increase both their fiscal and diplomatic authority. The discovery of the Eurasia Fund and the potential danger of Prince Andrew’s involvement in a complex Beijing plot to sway him led the home secretary to prohibit Mr Yang from entering the UK. Mr Yang denied any wrongdoing, stating that he is a legitimate businessman who has dedicated several decades to establishing stronger ties between China and the UK. Mr Yang came to the UK in 2002 to attend university and later established several consulting firms related to travel and business in China. He met Prince Andrew in 2014, and later assumed a role in the China-centered variant of Prince Andrew’s “Pitch@Palace” events, where business owners sell their ideas to investors. Siac will soon determine whether other papers from the case will be made public
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