Prosecutors Have File on Parliamentary Researcher Accused of Spying for China

Metropolitan Police confirm that they have given the CPS a file on two men who were arrested last year over spying allegations.

A general view of Scotland Yard in London, on Sept. 25, 2020. Hollie Adams/Getty Images

The police have given prosecutors a file on two alleged spies, including a well-connected parliamentary researcher, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The men in their 20s and 30s, who allegedly spied for China, were arrested in March last year and released on bail. The researcher has previously denied all allegations against him.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, The Met said a file has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The investigation into the allegations “is being carried out by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, which has responsibility for investigations relating to allegations of Official Secrets Act and espionage-related offences,” a spokesperson said.

“Officers have been in liaison with CPS in relation to this investigation and a case file has now been passed to them for consideration. Both men remain on police bail at this time and enquiries continue.”

The men, who have not been officially named, were arrested on March 13, 2023 on “suspicion of offences under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act, 1911, according to the Met.

The man in his 30s was arrested in Oxfordshire. The parliamentary researcher, who is in his 20s, was arrested in Edinburgh.

Police officers have also searched both men’s homes, as well as an address in London.

They were initially on bail until early October last year, but the bail period was later extended to a date in January. The Met didn’t confirm whether it has been extended again.

British police do not usually name suspects until they are charged.

The parliamentary researcher, reportedly a British national who was the director of an influential policy group on China, is said to have had links with senior Conservative MPs with high-level security clearances, including Alicia Kearns, the chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and her predecessor Tom Tugendhat before he became the security minister.

After his arrest was revealed by The Times of London, the researcher released a statement through his lawyers saying he’s “completely innocent.”

He said he had spent his career “trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP].”

A spokesperson for the CPS confirmed to The Epoch Times that it had received a file and declined to make further comment.

CCP Security Threat

The allegations have deepened security concerns in Parliament, promoting MPs to repeat calls for the government to officially label the Chinese regime a “threat.”

It comes amid a series of warnings from government officials and MI5 over the CCP’s targeting of British existing or future decision makers.

In January last year, MI5 alerted Parliament about an individual named Christine Ching Kui Lee, who had been “knowingly engaged in political interference activities” on behalf of the CCP’s United Front Work Department.

The alert stated that Ms. Lee had been facilitating financial donations to UK political parties and politicians and that anyone contacted by her should be “mindful of her affiliation with the Chinese state and remit to advance the CCP’s agenda in UK politics.”

However, no action could be taken against Ms. Lee because the law at the time didn’t forbid being a covert agent of a foreign power, according to MI5 Director General Ken McCallum.

Mr. McCallum later said Chinese agents have targeted at least 20,000 Britons on websites such as LinkedIn in a bid to extract information.

The Cabinet Office said in September that the Chinese regime had been trying to “headhunt British and allied nationals in key positions and with sensitive knowledge and experience, including from government, military, industry and wider society.”

Earlier this week, Anthony Glees, an academic who specialises in intelligence-led security, also warned that unsuspecting British students and researchers who don’t believe they have valuable information can also by targeted by Chinese agents.