Bin Ladens gave €1.2m to Prince Charles' charity: report
July 31, 2022
Britain's Prince Charles is under renewed pressure after a newspaper reported Sunday that one of his charities accepted a 1 million pound (€1.21 million, $1.19 million) donation from the family of Osama bin Laden.
Non-profit organizations set up by the heir to the UK throne have been rocked by allegations of criminal wrongdoing linked to gifts by other wealthy businessmen.
What are the new revelations?
The Sunday Times said the Prince of Wales' Charitable Fund was given the money in 2013 by Bakr bin Laden, patriarch of the large and wealthy Saudi family, and his brother Shafiq.
Both are half-brothers of the former al-Qaida leader and mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, who was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.
The paper reported that Charles met with Bakr in London in 2013, where he agreed to accept the gift. Citing unnamed sources, it said advisers had urged the heir to the throne not to take the donation.
Charles' office, Clarence House, confirmed the donation but said the decision to accept the money was taken by the charity's trustees, not the prince.
It added that "thorough due diligence was undertaken in accepting this donation."
The fund's chairman, Ian Cheshire, also said the donation was agreed "wholly" by the five trustees at the time, and "any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate."
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the Saudi family members.
Prince's charities hit by allegations of impropriety
However, the revelation is likely to further damage the reputation of the 73-year-old prince's charitable organizations following several similar cases.
Last month, the Sunday Times reported Charles had accepted bags of cash containing $3 million from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar.
Last year, British media alleged that people associated with another of Charles' charities, the Prince's Foundation, offered to help a Saudi billionaire secure honors and citizenship in return for donations.
The man, tycoon Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, had donated large sums to restoration projects of particular interest to Charles.
The head of the foundation, Michael Fawcett, resigned last year after an internal investigation into the allegations.
Investigations launched
The charity regulator for England and Wales, which oversees the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund, said in November it had opened a probe into the Mahfouz affair.
A police investigation is also currently underway.
The regulator for Scotland, responsible for the oversight of the Prince's Foundation, launched its own probe into reports that the foundation accepted cash from a Russian banker previously convicted of money laundering.
mm/fb (AFP, AP)