Five minutes is barely enough time to boil a kettle. It is, however, long enough to forward a confidential government briefing to a convicted sex offender.
That is the uncomfortable detail now hovering over Prince Andrew, or, as Buckingham Palace prefers to style him these days, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor. Newly released USDepartment of Justicedocuments suggest that while serving as the UK's special representative for international trade and investment,Andrew forwarded sensitive trade reports to Jeffrey Epstein.
The allegation is stark. The implications, if proven, would move far beyond embarrassment.
Thames Valley Police confirmed on 9 February that it is 'assessing the information in line with our established procedure.' The potential offences under consideration, misconduct in public office and breaches of the Official Secrets Act, are not minor technicalities. They go to the core of trust in public duty.
The emails at the centre of the storm date back to November 2010. An aide, Amit Patel, sent Andrew attached reports detailing trade visits to Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shenzhen following a tour of South East Asia.
It was routine correspondence within the machinery of British trade diplomacy. Except, according to the documents, Andrew forwarded the material to Epstein five minutes after it reached his inbox.
A month later, on Christmas Eve 2010, he allegedly shared another briefing, this time concerning investment prospects inAfghanistan's Helmand province, then a focal point of British military engagement. Sensitive territory, both commercially and geopolitically.
The chronology jars with Andrew's account in his now-infamous 2019 BBC interview, in which he insisted he had travelled to Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in December 2010 to 'end any future relationship.'
The newly surfaced material paints a murkier picture: contact not severed but sustained, and information passing between them.
Buckingham Palace's response was measured but telling. In a statement issued on behalf of King Charles III, it said: 'The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mountbatten-Windsor's conduct.'
Source: International Business Times UK
