Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Wikimedia Commons |
The British RoyalFamily is now under siege after Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is accused of receiving up to £4 million to broker a £385million deal in Kazakhstan on behalf of a foreign consortium. Now, anti-monarchists demand for an inquiry to investigate the allegations.
The Mail exposed that the Queen’s second son used his status
as then- trade envoy to squeeze some cash from oil-rich country on behalf of
Greek and Swiss clients in April 2011.
While the deal did not really materialize, there are emails that
suggest the 56-year-old royal has made a deal with Kazakh oligarch Kenges
Raklshev to use his status to help Greek utility firm and Swiss finance company
bid for infrastructure contracts.
Graham Smith, an anti-monarchist of the campaign group
Republic already demanded that an inquiry be held to investigate the allegation,
calling it “an abuse of Andrew’s position as trade envoy.”
This is not the first time that the Duke of York has been
hounded by scandal. In fact, he was forced to resign as the country’s “special
representative” for Trade and Investment in July 2011 over his relationship
with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“Claims the Duke of
York acted as a so-called fixer for an international consortium and stood to
benefit from a potential deal in Kazakhstan are untrue [and] defamatory,” a
Buckingham Palace spokesman said.
The deal failed after Kazakh police killed 14 striking oil workers
in the city of Zhanaozen. This forced EYDAP to halt their plans amid fears of
being caught up in political turmoil.
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