According to the Sunday Times, several of his advisers have pleaded for the foundation not to accept this payment from the wealthy family of the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Osama bin Laden.
Prince Charles, heir to the British Crown, has accepted a £1m donation from the Bin Laden family for his foundation, according to The Sunday Times.
Several of his advisors have pleaded for the foundation not to accept the payment from the wealthy family of the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Osama bin Laden, according to sources quoted in the British newspaper’s article. Although the Saudi family members who denied Osama bin Laden are not suspected of a possible crime, this information raises awareness around the Prince Charles Foundation, which police launched an investigation in February.
Read alsoBritish police launch investigation into Prince Charles Foundation scandal
This investigation aims to determine whether donations to the Prince Charles Foundation were rewarded with honorary degrees and used to support a naturalization application by Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak ben Mahfouz.
The agreement to donate £1million from Saudi family patriarch Bakr bin Laden (Osama’s half-brother) and his brother Shafik dates back to 2013 when Bakr bin Laden met Prince Charles in London, according to the Sunday Times.
The British heir to the throne splashed
Ian Cheshire, the foundation’s chairman, said the donation was accepted by all five trustees at the time. The case, which Scotland Yard was investigating, was uncovered last year and spattered the heir to the British throne at 73.
His former valet Michael Fawcett, who is said to be very close to Charles, is suspected of using his influence to help Saudi businessman ben Mahfouz, a generous donor from monarchy-linked charities, win an award. Mr Mahfouz, who denies any wrongdoing, is said to have donated large sums of money to restoration projects. Michael Fawcett resigned in November 2021.
Britain’s Charity Inspectorate also launched an inquiry last November into whether the wealthy Saudi businessman’s Mahfouz Foundation had received donations destined for Prince Charles’s. “The investigation will examine whether certain donations received by the Mahfouz Foundation were intended for the organisation, whether they were used for the benefit of the donors and whether they should be returned,” the commission said at the time. .
However, the Prince Charles Foundation, established in 1986, is not regulated by this commission but is dependent on the Scottish Regulator for Charities. The latter also launched an investigation, but this time for several hundred thousand euros from a Russian donor.
The Bin Laden Group, Saudi Arabia’s largest construction empire, founded by Osama bin Laden’s father in 1931, has grown rich for decades thanks to its close ties to royalty. But he is now heavily in debt.
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