Prince’s charity cleared over cash donation
‘Donations received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim were passed immediately to one of the Prince’s charities’
THE Prince of Wales’s charity will face no further action over a cash donation of around £2.5million, the Charity Commission has said.
The watchdog said it has looked at the information and has decided against intervening following allegations that Charles was given the €3million by a former Qatari prime minister.
The heir to the throne faced criticism after being presented with the cash – said to include a suitcase full of €500 notes – from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, known as HBJ, between 2011 and 2015.
The Sunday Times reported that Charles personally accepted the donations for his charity the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund from Sheikh Hamad, who was prime minister of Qatar between 2007 and 2013. A royal source insisted last month that the future king operates on advice, and such incidents have not happened in the past five years and would not happen again.
A Charity Commission spokesman said yesterday: “We have assessed the information provided by the charity and have determined there is no further regulatory role for the Commission.”
Clarence House said the donations were “passed immediately” to one of the Prince’s charities and that “appropriate governance” was carried out.
“Charitable donations received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim were passed immediately to one of the Prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed,” a statement said. According to The Sunday Times, a donation of €1million was handed over during one meeting at the Prince’s residence, Clarence House.
The paper said there was no suggestion that the payments were illegal, but anti-monarchy campaign group Republic wrote to the Charity Commission to demand an investigation.
The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, which was founded in 1979 with a mission to transform lives and build sustainable communities, awards grants to Uk-registered non-profit organisations to deliver projects in the UK, the Commonwealth and overseas.
Sheikh Hamad’s leadership of Qatar coincided with accusations of terrorist financing.
He has said that while he was in office the country “maybe” financed the Syrian branch of al-qaeda, known as the al-nusra Front.
The Qataris have also been dogged by allegations of bribery and corruption in their successful bid to host this year’s World Cup, to be held in November and December, though Sheikh Hamad’s role has never been examined.
Despite the controversies, the Prince of Wales made three official tours of the gas-rich state during the same period that Sheikh Hamad gave him €3million, the equivalent of £2.58million, in private meetings that do not appear in the Court Circular.