PRINCE Andrew's business partner is involved in the PPE firm linked to Michelle Mone, documents have shown.
Accountant Arthur Lancaster is sole director of Innovate Global, a business venture launched by the Duke of York which has also been linked to an alleged Chinese spy.
Lancaster is also the sole director of PPE Medpro, the company led by Mone's husband Doug Barrowman which is currently under investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) over £200 million contracts awarded during the Covid pandemic.
Last month, Mone accused the NCA of "smearing [her] as a criminal", claiming that the agency had "waged a ruthless campaign to destroy us, dragging out an investigation with no merit, no justification, and no end in sight".
Mone and Barrowman, both from Glasgow, have been interviewed by the NCA and deny any wrongdoing.
In her first interview when the scandal emerged in 2023, Mone insisted the "only error" she had made was lying to the press about her and her family's involvement, but insisted it was "not a crime".
A new report into Prince Andrew's links to PPE Medpro was published over the weekend by the Daily Mail.
Lancaster, 61, was previously appointed to front Prince Andrew's Pitch@Palace investment firm after the royal was forced to step aside following his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019. The company was dissolved in June 2021.
According to court documents, alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo was instrumental in launching the business in China.
In 2022, a firm led by Lancaster called AML Tax (UK) Ltd was fined £150,000 by HMRC for "aggressively" promoting tax avoidance schemes in the UK.
HMRC said the firm was part of Barrowman's Isle of Man-based Knox Group, and it was reported at the time that the pair had been business partners for some time.
The HMRC tribunal described Lancaster's evidence as "evasive" and said he displayed "a lack of candour".
Lancaster, who has multiple company appointments registered with Companies House, resigned from AML in May last year.
When he was appointed at PPE Medpro in May 2023, a spokesperson said Lancaster had been brought in to "oversee the resolution of a contractual dispute and the administration of the company until the dispute was resolved".
A spokesperson for Barrowman said Lancaster "acted for the duke in a personal capacity at all times and has been an associate of the duke for many years".
Prince Andrew and Lancaster did not respond to the Daily Mail's requests for comment.
