London, May 24 (IANS): Britons were shocked after the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, was caught on tape demanding 500,000 pounds to introduce an undercover reporter masquerading as an Indian businessman to her ex-husband Prince Andrew, a British trade envoy.
The cash-for-access scandal was a 500,000-pound deal to introduce the reporter posing as an Indian businessman to Andrew and set up trade deals from which Ferguson demanded a further one percent commission.
A spokesperson for Ferguson said she was "devastated" and "deeply regretful" over the scandal in which she was filmed taking $40,000 cash deposit from the reporter, the Daily Express reported Monday.
The sting operation was carried out by the News of the World, widely read tabloid.
Ferguson claimed that Andrew, who is UK's Special Representative for Trade and Investment, was part of the scam. "Andrew said to me, 'Tell him £500,000'.
"He knows he's had to underwrite me up to now because I've got no money. So if you want to meet him in your business, look after me and he'll look after you… you'll get it back 10-fold."
She was filmed telling the undercover reporter how to transfer the 500,000 pounds into her private HSBC bank account.
She told the reporter: "500,000 pounds when you can, to me, open doors. Then that is then, like, then you open up all the channels, whatever you need, whatever you want, and then that's that, what, and then you meet Andrew and that's fine. And that's, that's when you really open up whatever you want."
The media report cited sources close to her as claiming that the $40,000 down-payment agreed with what she thought was an Indian businessman was to be used to put a former personal assistant through university in the US.
Her friends maintained that it was the original purpose of the meeting and it went out of hand.
Ferguson's spokesperson reacted angrily over the stunning revelations.
"I'm incandescent with rage that she has been so naive to allow herself to get caught up in this. She is devastated by the story and deeply regretful of the situation and the embarrassment caused," he said.