Charles ‘outraged’ by offer of knighthood to Saudi tycoon
A FRIEND of Prince Charles last night insisted the heir to the throne had been ‘outraged’ when he discovered his closest aide had offered honours and British citizenship to a wealthy Saudi donor in return for donations to his charity.
Speaking days after police launched a formal investigation into the scandal – which centres on The Mail on Sunday’s revelation last September of a letter written by Michael Fawcett in August 2017 to an aide of tycoon Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz – the friend said: ‘Charles is adamant that he knew absolutely nothing about Michael Fawcett’s activities.
‘He was absolutely furious and outraged. It was an earthquake.
When Charles was first told that The Mail on Sunday had the letter from Michael Fawcett, he didn’t believe it, but once it was established to be true, he was even more furious and demanded something was done about it.
‘It was also a lesson that this must never happen again.’
In his letter to aide Busief Lamlum, Mr Fawcett wrote: ‘In light of the ongoing and most recent generosity of His Excellency... I am happy to confirm to you, in confidence, that we are willing and happy to support and contribute to the application for citizenship. I can further confirm that we are willing to make [an] application to increase His Excellency’s honour from Honorary CBE to that of KBE in accordance with Her Majesty’s Honours Committee.’
The Metropolitan Police are investigating potential offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 following ‘media reporting alleging offers of help were made to secure honours and citizenship for a Saudi national’.
No arrests are thought to have been made.
Mr Fawcett resigned as chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation charity in November ahead of an independent investigation that found he had coordinated with ‘fixers’ in a bid to land an honour for a donor. Mr Mahfouz, who denies any wrongdoing and did not obtain either a knighthood or citizenship, had been granted a CBE ‘for services to charities in the UK’ in 2016 – before the Fawcett letter was sent.
He received the honour from Charles and, the MoS can reveal, was given a separate award by a Russian society at St James’s Palace, the most senior royal palace in the UK.
The Prince’s Foundation is based at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, and offers education and training programmes in construction and traditional crafts. The charity has launched a major damage limitation exercise. One plan is to make more use of Highgrove, the Prince’s Gloucestershire home, for events because Dumfries House is now synonymous with the scandal.
The Mail on Sunday has also learned that Dmitry Leus, a former Russian banker who lost £500,000 when money he had pledged to Dumfries House went missing, has received a letter of apology from Charles’s charity.
Mr Leus gave the money to William Bortrick, the editor of Burke’s Peerage who acted as a middleman for the charity.
The foundation later rejected the donation but the money was never returned to Mr Leus.