An investigation into possible corruption should be held into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s time as trade envoy for the UK, a former business secretary said.
Files released by the US department of Justice appear to show the former Duke of York sent government documents and other commercial information to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sir Vince Cable, who was a minister in the Conservative-LibDem government, said that leaking sensitive information about the Royal Bank of Scotland and Aston Martin while trade envoy was “totally unacceptable”.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has always consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
“We need a police or DPP [director of public prosecutions] check on whether criminal corruption took place and a government investigation into how this was allowed to happen,” said Sir Vince.
As trade envoy, from 2001 to 2011, the former prince had access to senior government and business contacts around the world.
In 2010, he apparently passed on an email conversation about Aston Martin and the Royal Bank of Scotland to a contact, who passed it on to disgraced financier Epstein, reports the Mail on Sunday.
That conversation with Terence Allen, an investment banker based in Abu Dhabi, has some details of RBS’s plans to restructure, and unflattering reflections on the chief executive, Stephen Hester. The email also describes “conflicts between internal parties” at Aston Martin.
The former prince was a customer of RBS which, at the time, was majority owned by the taxpayer. He also appears to have forwarded government reports from visits to Vietnam, Singapore and China to Epstein, according to the published files.
Thames Valley Police on Wednesday said it had spoke with specialists from the Crown Prosecution Service about allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential reports from his role as the UK’s trade envoy with Epstein.
Labour MP and women and equalities committee chair Sarah Owens said Mr Mountbatten-Windsor must face questions from police and Parliament.
The King has spoken of his “profound concern” over the allegations of misconduct against his brother, and Buckingham Palace said it stands “ready to support” the police if approached.
source