British MP accuses New Zealander of spying
A former Waikato man has been accused of being a suspected Russian agent with links to money laundering.
Billionaire Christopher Chandler, who grew up at
Ma¯ tangi near Hamilton, was named in the British House of Commons on Tuesday by Conservative MP Bob Seely as an ‘‘object of interest’’ in French investigations, The Times reported.
Using parliamentary privilege, Seely said the French suspect Christopher Chandler of working for the Russian intelligence services after citing security files he said were authenticated by French, UK and US sources. The claims were swiftly rejected as ‘‘nonsense’’. Chandler and his brother Richard Chandler entered the Forbes Rich List in 2005 having amassed a $US5 billion fortune. Notoriously media-shy and known to be secretive, the Chandler brothers sold their father’s clothing retailer – Chandler House on Victoria Street, Hamilton – and invested in the finance market, establishing Sovereign Global Holdings in 1986. Their father also owned a beekeeping operation and built homes and apartments.
The sale of Chandler House, which had a store in Auckland, a chain of fashion stores and three clothing factories, netted the brothers $US10 million. In 20 years, that was turned into $US5 billion before the Chandler brothers split their wealth and operated their own businesses, both remaining on the NBR rich list top 10.
Christopher Chandler’s Dubaibased hedge fund, Legatum Group, funds the Legatum Institute – a London-based think tank to Brexit-backing MPs and campaigners.
Seely’s accusation, based on
2005 police files provided from Monaco police, is the first time an alleged link has been made, in public, between Russia and the Legatum Institute, The Times reported. The Institute dismissed the allegations as nonsense.
In the police files, Christopher Chandler is described, by French security services, as an object of interest to that country’s domestic security service since
2002 on suspicion of working for the Russian intelligence services, Seely said.