An alleged Chinese spy who was banned from the UK and linked to the Duke of York can now be named as Yang Tengbo, a High Court judge has ruled.
The 50-year-old, previously known as H6, is said to have become a “close” confidant of the Duke of York and has also been pictured with senior politicians including Lord David Cameron and Baroness Theresa May.
At an urgent High Court hearing on Monday, lawyers for Mr Tengbo – who is also known as Chris Yang – said that the businessman was not seeking to maintain his anonymity.
Guy Vassall-Adams KC said: “There has been an enormous amount of media reporting in relation to this story, and particularly in relation to the relationship between my client, H6, and Prince Andrew, as well as a huge amount of speculation about the identity of my client.”
Lifting his anonymity, Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain said: “It seems to me that these proceedings now serve no further purpose.”
Mr Tengbo challenged his ban on entering the UK at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in July, but lost his appeal last week.
The Chinese national had been due to be named after an anonymity order made in May 2023 was lifted by judges at the specialist tribunal.
However, the day before the judgment was due to be published, he made a successful bid at the High Court for a temporary block on being named, which has now been lifted.
His anonymity came amid calls from MPs for Mr Tengbo to be named.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party was prepared to name the alleged spy in the chamber while Labour MP Graham Stringer also told the Mail on Sunday it was “ludicrous for this person to remain anonymous in the country he was allegedly spying on”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp previously told LBC he was “extremely worried” about the case and that the court order protecting the man’s identity should be lifted so that “justice can be seen to be done”.
