UK's Prince Charles received $1.2mln from bin Laden family
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Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has been found to be embroiled in yet another money-related controversy linking him to the Saudi bin Laden family.
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Queen Elizabeth II with her son and heir, Prince Charles, in Balmoral, Scotland, in October 2021 (AP)
Prince Charles of Wales in 2013 accepted some one million pounds from notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden's family, which were "donated" to the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund (PWCF), The Sunday Times reported.
The money was granted to Charles from Bakr bin Laden and his brother Shafiq, both of which are half-brothers of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. The transaction took place in London on October 30, 2013, two years after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Advisers at Clarence House and the PWCF objected to the Heir to the king taking the sum, but he agreed nonetheless, despite several attempts from his advisers to convince him otherwise.
Charles's advisers urged him to return the sum on several occasions, alerting him to the consequences of the public knowledge of the transaction.
Charles was informed that his reputation would take a severe hit if his name appeared in the same sentence as the terrorist responsible for the murder of around 70 British nationals among the thousands killed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Bin Laden was found to be the man behind the infamous terror attacks that shook the United States in 2001, targeting the two main trade towers in the World Trade Center and the US Department of Defense and killing about 3,000 people.
"The fact that a member of the highest level of the British establishment was choosing to broker deals with a name and a family that not only rang alarm bells but abject horror around the world... why would you do this? What good reason is there to do this?" one source told The Sunday Times.
"There are other sources of money in the world," Charles was told, and yet, informed of the damage this would cause him and his charitable organization, he still took money from the Saudi family that brought up one of the most - if not the most - notorious terrorist in the world.
According to the British newspaper, PWCF chairman Ian Cheshire said the donation was agreed upon by consensus by the five trustees at the time, which were: Amelia Fawcett, a financier who chairs Kew Gardens; Michael Rake, the former chairman of telecommunications giant BT; former Barclays chief executive John Varley; Kenneth Wilson, an academic; and William Nye, Charles's principal private secretary at the time.
Trustees are required to maintain a charity's independence and also protect its reputation in addition to having an obligation to conduct due diligence on donations.
have a legal and fiduciary obligation to maintain a charity’s independence and safeguard its reputation. They are also required to conduct due diligence on donations.
The bin Laden family's relationship with the prince's charities has never previously been disclosed and does not appear in public documents.
"The donation from Sheik Bakr Bin Laden in 2013 was carefully considered by PWCF Trustees at the time. Due diligence was conducted, with information sought from a wide range of sources, including the government," Cheshire argued.
This is not the first money-linked controversy that the prince has been embroiled in, as it was reported in late June that he also accepted "bags of cash" totaling more than $3 million from a former Qatari prime minister.
Between 2011 and 2015, billionaire Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani gave Charles three cash donations stuffed into shopping bags from a luxury department store, in addition to a holdall and a suitcase.
Prince Charles' office did not deny the allegations, saying the cash was "passed immediately to one of the prince's charities, who carried out the appropriate governance and assured us that all the correct processes were followed."
Another scandal surfaced in February when the Metropolitan Police in London launched an investigation into claims that a Saudi billionaire was offered UK citizenship and knighthood in exchange for donations to the same foundation.
The revelation came just one day after Prince Charles' brother, Prince Andrew, reached a settlement with Jeffrey Epstein scandal victim Virginia Giuffre for sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
Last year, Giuffre filed a lawsuit against the British royal figure, accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 17 through a trafficking scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew, however, repeatedly denied any involvement in the accusation.
