internal intelligence service of United KingdomWestminster officials said on Thursday that MI5 warned lawmakers that an alleged Chinese agent had “committed political interference activities” in parliament.
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle’s office confirmed it had emailed lawmakers to inform them of the matter.
A Hoyle spokesman said: “The president takes the security of delegates and the democratic process very seriously, for which he issued this notice in consultation with the security services.”
The Chinese embassy in London has denied the allegations and said it was never required to “buy influence in any foreign parliament”.
We strongly oppose threats to malign and intimidate the Chinese community United Kingdom“, he criticized.
The suspect has been identified in the message as Christine Li, which states that she “committed political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Labor Department of the Communist Party of China,” a body that deals with non-party personalities or groups. Wants to keep in touch with
The London lawyer reportedly donated £200,000 ($275,000, or €239,000) to Labor MP Barry Gardiner and hundreds of thousands more to his party.
Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May – whose party has been accused of receiving millions of pounds from Russian donors – presented Lee with an award in 2019 in recognition of her contribution to the relationship between them. China this is United Kingdom,
Lee was photographed with May’s predecessor, conservative David Cameron, at an event in 2015 and separately with former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“It facilitated deputation on behalf of foreigners based in Hong Kong and financial donations to serve candidates China“, according to Hoyle’s message. “This was done in secret to hide the origin of the payment.”
Following warnings from MI5 about Lee’s activities, former Conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith, who was highly critical of Beijing, called for strong action.
Last year, China banned 10 people and organizations in United Kingdom, including Duncan Smith, who he called the spread of “lies and misinformation” about human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region (North-West) China,
Lee was not detained or deported, but he was banned from parliament, she said.
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