Thames Valley Police is assessing a complaint by anti-monarchy group Republic over the alleged sharing of confidential material by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with Jeffrey Epstein.
According to emails recently released by the US government, a sender thought to be the former prince passed on reports of visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam and confidential details of investment opportunities.
Under official guidance, trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over sensitive, commercial, or political information about their official visits.
The former Duke of York, who served as trade envoy between 2001 and 2011, has been contacted for comment but is yet to respond.
Andrew has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing. Being named in the Epstein files is not an indication of misconduct.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said: “We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.”
According to material seen by the BBC, the emails indicate that on 7 October 2010, Andrew sent Epstein details of his official upcoming trips as trade envoy to Singapore, Vietnam, Shenzhen in China and Hong Kong, where he was accompanied by business associates of Epstein.
After the trip, on 30 November, he appears to have forwarded official reports of those visits sent by his then-special assistant, Amit Patel, to Epstein, five minutes after receiving them.
In a separate email exchange in 2010, the former prince appeared to send Epstein a confidential briefing on investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
At this time, those efforts were overseen by the British armed forces and were funded by the UK government.
Sir Vince Cable, who was then business secretary, said: “I was unaware of Andrew… sharing information about investment opportunities [in Afghanistan] before, this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
More than a year later, Andrew again appeared to reach out to Epstein to alert him to a new investment opportunity with a private equity firm he had visited a week earlier.
All of these email exchanges took place after 2008, when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences.
Official terms of reference for trade envoys state that they “are not civil servants”, adding: “However, the role of a Trade Envoy carries with it a duty of confidentiality in relation to information received. This may include sensitive, commercial, or political information shared about relevant markets/visits.
“This duty of confidentiality will continue to apply after the expiry of their term of office. In addition, the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1989 will apply.”
Source: BBC
