Prince Charles took millions in cash from Qatari sheikh: report

Prince Charles personally accepted suitcases and shopping bags stuffed with millions of dollars’ worth of cash from a controversial Qatari politician between 2011 and 2015, according to an explosive new report.

“Everyone felt very uncomfortable about the situation,” a former adviser to the Prince of Wales told the Sunday Times of London.

The “only thing we could do was to count the money and make a mutual record of what we’d done,” the source said. “And then call the bank.”

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, bestowed the big bucks on the heir to the British throne in three deliveries during private, off-the-books meetings at Clarence House, the prince’s official London residence.

He came toting stacks of bills totaling 3 million euros — about $3.2 million at today’s exchange rates — in duffel bags, a suitcase, and several branded shopping bags from the famed Fortnum & Mason department store.

The payments were deposited into the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF), a grant-making entity that quietly bankrolls the prince’s pet projects — and pays the bills at his Scottish country estate.

The charity “carried out the appropriate governance and assured us that all the correct processes were followed,” a Clarence House spokesman said.

But the revelation fueled talk of a “cash-for-access culture” surrounding Prince Charles — coming just months after his longtime aide, Michael Fawcett, was bounced from the charity amid allegations he used his position to help a Saudi billionaire receive a “golden visa” and high royal honors.

Read original article here

Leave a Comment