Bin Laden family donated 1 million pounds to Prince Charles charity: Report
The discovery puts the 73-year-old prince's charitable organisations, which have been shaken by accusations of criminal activity, under more scrutiny even though there is no indication that any of the Saudi family members have committed any crime.
FollowPrince Charles, the heir to the British throne, accepted a £1 million donation to his charitable trust from the family of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, The Sunday Times reported. The discovery puts the 73-year-old prince's charitable organisations, which have been shaken by accusations of criminal activity, under more scrutiny even though there is no indication that any of the Saudi family members have committed any crime.
According to sources quoted by the newspaper, a number of Charles' advisors advised him not to accept the contribution from Bakr bin Laden and his brother Shafiq, who are the family patriarch and half-brothers of terror leader Osama.
Despite the objections of advisors from the trust and his staff, Charles, 73, consented to the contribution to the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund (PWCF) when he met with Bakr, 76, at Clarence House in London in 2013, according to the newspaper.
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The contribution was approved at the time by the five trustees, according to PWCF Chairman Ian Cheshire. In February, British police opened an inquiry into one of Charles's philanthropic organisations after allegations of a cash-for-honors scandal involving a Saudi billionaire.
Following an internal examination into the claims, the director of The Prince's Foundation resigned last year. The foundation's chief executive, Michael Fawcett, had first consented to step down from his position as a result of press reports concerning his associations with a Saudi individual.
The man, business billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, had made large donations to restoration initiatives that Charles found particularly interesting. It is said that Fawcett, a longtime friend of Queen Elizabeth II's heir and a former valet to the Prince of Wales, orchestrated attempts to give Mahfouz a royal honour and even British citizenship.
Mahfouz allegedly insists he did nothing wrong. A official investigation into donations received by Mahfouz's charitable trust that were meant for the prince's foundation has been launched, according to the Charities Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales.
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The Prince's Foundation, founded in 1986, is registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator but is not subject to regulation by the Charities Commission.
In response to allegations that the foundation had taken money from a Russian banker who had previously been found guilty of money laundering, the Scottish body opened its own investigation in September.
