Alleged Spying

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P. John
Delivered

Dear Home Office,

late last year, there were two reported instances of foreign spying.

One concerned two unnamed persons arrested under the Official Secrets act (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-66765759) claimed to be spies acting for China.

A second concerned 6 Bulgarian nationals (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68426455) several of whom have already made appearances in Court.

I remain concerned that Lord Livingston, formerly Chief Executive of BT remains at large. He was primarily responsible for one of the UK's largest spying scams; operating Russian supplied spy technology at the core of the UK's telecoms network during the period 2006-2009. I believe no one was prosecuted for that series of offences.

Please could you disclose to me,

1) What is the present status of the two individuals arrested under the Official Secrets act in September 2023? Have they been charged? When does the case come to Court?
2) What is the present status of the six Bulgarian individuals arrested for "conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy" since August 2023?
3) Does it remain the case that not one single person was ever charged with any offence relating to the Phorm spyware scandal, wherein directors of BT covertly installed & operated Russian supplied spyware equipment in the core of the UK's telecoms network for three years?

Yours faithfully,

P. John

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Dear P John,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref FOI2024/03462). We will
aim to send you a full response by 7th May which is twenty working days
from the date we received your request.

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Home Office

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P. John left an annotation ()

Two men charged with spying for China under Official Secrets Act

"Two men have been charged with spying for China after allegedly providing information which could be "useful to an enemy".

Christopher Berry, 32, and Christopher Cash, 29, were charged under the Official Secrets Act.

They are accused of giving "articles, notes, documents or information" to a foreign state, the Met Police said."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68874822

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Please find response to your query attached.

 

 

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Freedom of Information

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P. John
Delivered

Dear Home Office,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office's handling of my FOI request 'Alleged Spying'.
Your response to my request is now long overdue.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...
Yours faithfully,
P. John

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Dear P. John,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office.

I have checked the status of your FOI request, and it is currently showing as open. Unfortunately we cannot carry out an internal review of your FOI requests until your case has been closed and you have received a full response. Thereafter, if you are dissatisfied with the response, can you then make a request for an internal review of the response you received.

I have forwarded your email to the relevant Home Office business areas dealing with your request for their urgent attention and take this opportunity to apologise for the delay.

Regards,

C Anderson
Home Office

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P. John
Delivered

Hello Mr/Ms Anderson,

please could you tell me, is there any danger of me receiving the information I have requested from you in this FoIA request, which is long long overdue?

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...

Yours sincerely,

P. John

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Dear P. John,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office.

I have reviewed your FOI request, FOI2024/03462, which still remains open.

I have forwarded your email onto the business area handling your request, and have asked that they provide you with an update on the status of your request, and when you can expect to receive a response.

Kind regards,

C Anderson
Information Rights Team
Home Office

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P. John
Delivered

Dear FOI Requests,

please could you tell me which year I might receive your reply to my FoIA request, below
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...

Yours sincerely,

P. John

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P. John
Delivered

Dear Home Office,

Is there a record for the longest time you have ever taken to answer a freedom of information request? If so, how could I make an application for that prize?

By law, you are supposed to respond to FoIA requests within 20 days.

As a reminder, deliberately withholding or concealing information that should be disclosed in response to an FoIA request is a section 77 criminal offence.

Would you prefer me to make such a complaint to the ICO? Or will you now answer this request?
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...

Yours faithfully,

P. John

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Dear P John,

Thank you for your email which has been forward on to the business area dealing with your request for their attention.

Regards

N McKenzie
Home Office

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Please DO NOT reply to this email address. Correspondence to above email
will not be actioned.

If you wish to raise a Freedom of Information (FOI) request or related
matter, you must direct your enquiry to the Home Office Information Rights
Team at [1][Home Office request email]

Dear Requester,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.

Please find response to your query attached.

Yours Sincerely

Freedom of Information

Home Office

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