Investigation into charity linked to Prince of Wales

THE Charity Commission has launched an investigation into claims that donations intended for the Prince of Wales’s foundation were channelled elsewhere.

The commission said it had opened an inquiry into the Mahfouz Foundation amid allegations that donations to the Prince’s Foundation ended up there.

It will look at whether such funds were used “in accordance with the donors’ intentions” and if they should be returned to the donor or otherwise distributed to charity.

The Mahfouz Foundation is run by billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, who recently found himself at the centre of a cash for honours scandal.

It was claimed that Michael Fawcett, former chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation and then one of the Prince’s aides, had tried to secure a knighthood and British citizenship for the Saudi donor. Mr Fawcett resigned last week.

Mr Mahfouz, who donated large sums to restoration projects of interest to Prince Charles, denied wrongdoing.

The investigation relates to claims that £500,000 donated to the Prince’s Foundation by Dmitry Leus, a Russian former banker, in May 2020 had not reached the charity. The donation was intended for Dumfries House, the Prince’s pet 18th century restoration in Ayrshire, run by his foundation.

Prince Charles wrote a thank you to Mr Leus, 51, saying he was “incredibly grateful” for his “immense generosity,” and proposing they meet post-lockdown. The foundation’s ethics committee rejected the money after discovering Mr Leus had been found guilty of money laundering in 2004 before having the conviction overturned.

Mr Leus claimed the donation was never returned to him.

It later emerged that the Mahfouz Foundation was holding £300,000 of Mr Leus’s funds and that Michael Wynne-parker, a society fixer who had orchestrated the donation, had the rest.

The foundation said: “The Mahfouz Foundation is holding £300,000 on behalf of Mr Leus and await instructions on that being returned. Mr Wynne-parker is the trustee of Mr Leus and has the remaining £200,000.”

Mr Leus’s lawyers said he had “never heard” of the Mahfouz Foundation.