Former Prince Andrew charged the British public for the cost of massages while jetting around the world on trade missions, insiders now claim, a report states.
The British taxpayer footed the bill for massages for the former Prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, now long ostracised from the Royal Family and last week arrested by British police over allegations of misconduct in public office relating to his time as a trade envoy for the British government.
Andrew’s time working for the Department for Trade in his unpaid role between 2001 and 2011 were already somewhat controversial at the time down to the lavish expense spending, with British newspapers christening him “Air Miles Andy” for his frequent taxpayer-funded travel.
Now the BBC cites unnamed civil servants who state they worked in the trade department at the time and witnessed Andrew’s team submit expense claims for massages during a trade envoy trip to the Middle East. One civil servant is alleged to have told the broadcaster: “I thought it was wrong… I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway”.
It is claimed higher-up civil servants overruled the concerns to make sure Mountbatten-Windsor’s claim was paid, and that there was something of a “rubber stamp” culture.
The broadcaster notes there is no indication that this claim is an indication of criminality.
The claims come amid renewed focus on the former Prince Andrew’s behaviour during his time as trade envoy, when it is claimed he sent confidential government reports to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Police are now investigating this and briefly arrested Andrew last week, before releasing him pending further inquiries. Officers searched properties related to Andrew over the weekend.
15-year-old reports about Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet being able to use Royal Air Force airfields, and the possibility that the-then Prince Andrew may have used his influence to permit the unorthodox use of military strips for private use are now being reconsidered in the light of the latest revelations. While Epstein using British military facilities was first reported in 2011, it is now claimed by The Financial Times this may have continued to as late as 2013, and attention on whether Andrew used military air bases to meet Epstein in secret is growing.
Yet investigating two was on these flights is likely to be frustrated given they were now so long ago, they are beyond the point where flight logs are generally destroyed. The Daily Telegraph states Royal Air Force flight logs are pulped after three months and civilian ones after seven years, meaning flights that took place over a decade ago are likely to have been lost.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor maintains his innocence in these matters and has long denied all wrongdoing.
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