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Two males within the UK together with a former parliamentary aide have been charged with spying for China.
The Crown Prosecution Service mentioned on Monday it had authorised prices in opposition to Christopher Money, 29, from Whitechapel in east London, and Christopher Berry, 32, from Witney in Oxfordshire. Money had labored as a parliamentary researcher in Westminster.
The pair “will probably be charged with offering prejudicial data to a overseas state, China” and can seem at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom on Friday, mentioned Nick Value, head of the CPS’s particular crime and counterterrorism division.
Money and Berry had been arrested by the police in March final 12 months below the Official Secrets and techniques Act and a file was handed to the CPS in late 2023. The fees got consent by the attorney-general, Victoria Prentis, earlier this month.
The CPS alleged that between January 2022 and February 2023, Money “obtained, collected, recorded, revealed or communicated” data that was “calculated to be, may be, or had been meant to be, instantly or not directly, helpful to an enemy”. Money was accused of performing for “a goal prejudicial to the security or pursuits of the State”.
Berry is accused of the identical offence between December 2021 and February 2023.
The UK authorities has labelled China an “epoch-defining problem” whereas deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden lately described Beijing because the “primary state-based risk to our financial safety”.
Final autumn Prime Minister Rishi Sunak advised Chinese language premier Li Qiang he had “important considerations about Chinese language interference within the UK’s parliamentary democracy”. China has denied allegations of spying.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command on the Metropolitan Police, mentioned: “This has been an especially complicated investigation into what are very critical allegations.
“We’ve labored carefully with the Crown Prosecution Service as our investigation has progressed and this has led to the 2 males being charged right this moment.”
Money and Berry couldn’t instantly be reached for touch upon Monday. Each have been bailed forward of Friday’s courtroom look. Money mentioned in a press release final September launched by his legal professionals that he was “utterly harmless”.
Money was a former firm director of the China Analysis Group, an organisation arrange by Conservative parliamentarians to look at the long-term challenges and alternatives thrown up by Beijing.
This included some contact with Alicia Kearns, the Tory chair of the Commons overseas affairs committee, and Tom Tugendhat, the safety minister, based on individuals acquainted with the matter.
Money beforehand labored for the British Council in Hangzhou, a metropolis in Zhejiang province on China’s japanese coast, based on a brief speaker biography on the Council on Geostrategy web site.
It mentioned he had gained a masters in China and Globalisation from the Lau China Institute at King’s School London and a masters in fashionable historical past from the College of St Andrews.
