Heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, has been dragged into a legal investigation after whistleblowers found a donation of more than half a million pounds was made to the The Prince’s Foundation by Russian banker Dmitry Leus, who was previously convicted of money laundering. Leus received a personal thank you letter from the Prince with plans to meet in person after lockdown for his donation.
The foundation’s ethics committee later decided to decline the donation and instead pass it along to another one of Prince Charles’s charitable organizations, Children & The Arts. However when asked about the funds, the organization “denied it ever received the cash and has said it is in the process of being wound up instead”, reports The Independent.
The investigation into The Prince’s Foundation comes as a result of his trusted aide, Michael Fawcett’s, forced resignation after allegations he helped secure citizenship for a Saudi billionaire in exchange for a £1.5m donation to Prince Charles’s charities.
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), which opened an investigation into the foundation’s dealings, could likely pursue charges against Fawcett who was in charge of the foundation’s day-to-day dealings and attracting donors, rather than Prince Charles, who is president of the charity but does not oversee its operations. No announcements have been made about whether Leus would be charged for violating anti-money laundering laws for his donation, but we will continue to monitor the situation as it progresses.
