"A mystery in which more than £230,000 was removed from Prince Andrew's Palace company, new accounts reveal.
More than £230,000 has been withdrawn from Prince Andrew Dragon's Pitch@Palace initiative, accounts documents filed this week show. During the financial year to 31 March 2024, the amount of cash on hand and in the bank at the company halved, from £454,979 to £220,990. The accounts, filed with Companies House on December 30, show that the withdrawal was signed by Pitch@Palace's sole director, Arthur Lancaster, on behalf of the board.
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However, there is mystery surrounding what the money was used for or to whom it was paid. Last year, around £120,000 was also withdrawn from the Pitch@Palace Global Ltd account, with its total assets falling from £610,870 to £489,915. It comes amid concerns about the future of the Duke of York's Pitch@Palace scheme after a former boss at the company emerged as an alleged spy. Yang Tingbo, 50, has been appointed founder of the software project in China, and has been described as a "close friend" of the Duke of York. The businessman visited Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace and was also invited to attend his 60th birthday party.
Last month, a box full of books detailing the work of Prince Andrew's business initiative in China was left lying outside the £1m property that served as Mr Yang's headquarters. One of the books was a collection of strongly supported photographs showing Andrew meeting dozens of Chinese businessmen as part of his scheme. The first photo in the 87-page volume showed the Duke of York posing with suspect Yang, who has been banned from entering the UK on national security grounds. Security services suspect Mr Yang is linked to the United Front Work Department (UFWD) – the secretive arm of the Chinese government that regulates Beijing's cultural influences abroad. He was first banned from entering the UK under anti-terrorism laws in 2021 and had his devices confiscated, with documents later recovered revealing his links to Andrew. He was removed from a flight to London in 2023, with then Home Secretary Suella Braverman upholding the decision to revoke his residence rights in March of that year because it would be “conducive to the public interest”.
The Pitch@Palace program was created by the Duke of York in 2014 to help put would-be entrepreneurs in touch with investors and mentors. It was thrown into disarray, however, following Prince Andrew's disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in November 2019. The prince agreed to step back from his public duties but initially wanted to remain a figurehead of Pitch@Palace. However, the global arm, a private limited company, has continued to gradually remove all references to the Duke of York from its homepage. The company's website previously welcomed visitors with the following words: “The Duke of York founded Pitch@Palace to provide a platform to amplify and accelerate the work of entrepreneurs.” However, that has now been replaced with a note that Pitch@Palace will dedicate the first part of 2020 to a “brand revamp.” Several photos featuring Andrew have also been removed from the site."
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