The Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund accepted a donation from Osama bin Laden’s household in 2013, it has emerged.
According to The Sunday Times, Prince Charles met with the al Qaeda founder’s half-brother Bakr in London – and allegedly agreed to simply accept a £1m cost.
The report claims that a number of of the senior royal’s closest advisers urged Charles to return the cash.
Clarence House has denied that Prince Charles was personally concerned, telling Sky News: “The Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund has assured us that thorough due diligence was undertaken in accepting this donation.
“The resolution to simply accept was taken by the charity’s trustees alone and any try to characterise it in any other case is fake.”
Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund added: “The donation from Sheik Bakr bin Laden in 2013 was fastidiously thought of by PWCF trustees on the time.
“Due diligence was conducted, with information sought from a wide range of sources, including government. The decision to accept the donation was taken wholly by the trustees. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate.”
Osama bin Laden was behind the September 11 assaults of 2001, which killed practically 3,000 individuals within the US.
The Sunday Times claims that Charles’ assembly with Bakr, the patriarch of the rich Saudi household, occurred two years after Osama bin Laden was killed by US particular forces in Pakistan.
The newspaper reported that the donation was accepted regardless of the objections of advisers – certainly one of whom mentioned having the cash “would not be good for anybody”.
The Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund was based in 1979 and awards grants to UK-registered non-profit organisations for initiatives within the UK, Commonwealth and different international locations.
This isn’t the primary time that PWCF’s actions have come below scrutiny.
Earlier this 12 months, The Sunday Times reported that Prince Charles had accepted a suitcase full of money as a charitable donation from the previous prime minister of Qatar.
Three numerous cash totalling €3m had been handed to the prince personally between 2011 and 2015 by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
The palace has not denied that on one event, he offered the prince with €1m which was reportedly put into service luggage from Fortnum & Mason, the luxurious meals retailer that has a royal constitution to offer the Royal Family with groceries.
Clarence House insists all right processes had been adopted over the donations – and a senior palace supply later mentioned Prince Charles accepting luggage of money for his charity “would not happen again”.
Earlier in July, the Charity Commission mentioned it could be taking no additional motion over that donation – including it has “no concerns” in regards to the governance of the prince’s charity and that trustees submitted info through a critical incident report.
There was no suggestion these funds had been unlawful, however anti-monarchy marketing campaign group Republic mentioned it wrote to the Charity Commission to demand an investigation.
Source: information.sky.com”