El príncipe Carlos aceptó 1,2 millones de euros de la familia Bin Laden, según diario / Prince Charles accepted £1m from Osama Bin Laden’s family – report
De acuerdo con el periódico, el futuro rey recibió el dinero de Bakr Bin Laden, el patriarca actual de la rica familia saudita, y su hermano Shafiq. Ambos hermanastros por parte de padre de Osama
El príncipe Carlos, heredero al trono británico, aceptó en 2013 un donativo de un millón de libras (1,2 millones de euros, al cambio de hoy) para sus organizaciones benéficas de la familia del terrorista saudí Osama Bin Laden, informó este domingo The Sunday Times.
De acuerdo con el periódico, el futuro rey recibió el dinero de Bakr Bin Laden, el patriarca actual de la rica familia saudita, y su hermano Shafiq. Ambos hermanastros por parte de padre de Osama.
Al fundador de Al Qaeda lo ejecutaron en 2011 en Pakistán en una operación militar de Estados Unidos. Esto luego de acusarlo de los atentados del 11 de septiembre de 2001 en ese país, que causaron 2.996 muertes y más de 25.000 heridos.
El diario precisa que no hay indicios de que los hermanastros estuvieran vinculados con las actividades del dirigente islamista. Cuyo padre, el millonario de origen yemení Mohammed bin Awad Bin Laden, murió en un accidente de avión en 1967.
Según el Times, el príncipe Carlos, de 73 años, se reunió con Bakr, de 76, en su palacio de Clarence House, en Londres, el 30 de octubre de 2013, dos años después de la muerte de Osama Bin Laden.
El heredero aceptó el donativo pese al consejo expreso de varios asesores, que le advirtieron de que «no sería bueno para nadie» y podría dañar su reputación. De acuerdo con el diario, el príncipe pensó que rechazarlo sería embarazoso de cara al empresario saudí.
El príncipe Carlos aceptó 1,2 millones de la familia Bin Laden, según diario
El dinero se depositó, a través del banco de la monarquía Coutts, en la cuenta del Fondo Benéfico del Príncipe de Gales. La cual distribuye subvenciones a organizaciones británicas sin ánimo de lucro, explica el rotativo, que señala que la junta de este Fondo lo aceptó formalmente a posteriori.
En un comunicado, Ian Cheshire, presidente del PWCF, ha asegurado que «la donación de Bakr Bin Laden en 2013 fue cuidadosamente considerada» y acordada por los cinco fideicomisarios de la época, si bien, según el Times, al menos uno expresó sus dudas.
«Se llevó a cabo la debida diligencia, con información de una amplia gama de fuentes, incluido el gobierno. La decisión de aceptar la donación fue de los síndicos. Cualquier intento de sugerir otra cosa es engañoso e inexacto», declara Cheshire.
Estos fideicomisarios eran Amelia Fawcett, una alta ejecutiva que actualmente preside los famosos jardines botánicos londinenses de Kew. También de Michael Rake, expresidente de BT; John Varley, antiguo director ejecutivo de Barclays; el académico Kenneth Wilson y William Nye, entonces el principal secretario privado de Carlos.
«Se efectuaron exhaustivas diligencias antes de aceptar la donación»
Un portavoz de Clarence House ha incidido en que «la decisión de aceptar (el donativo) la tomaron solo por los fideicomisarios y cualquier intento de caracterizarla de otra manera es falso».
«El Fondo Benéfico del Príncipe de Gales nos ha asegurado que se efectuaron exhaustivas diligencias antes de aceptar la donación», añaden.
Estas revelaciones se producen después de que en junio el mismo periódico informara de que el príncipe percibió entre 2011 y 2015 tres lotes de dinero en efectivo. Todo por un valor de tres millones de euros del ex primer ministro y ministro de Exteriores de Catar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
La Comisión británica de supervisión de las organizaciones benéficas decidió el pasado día 20 no investigar este donativo.
Sin embargo, la policía sí investiga las acusaciones de que un antiguo ayudante de Carlos, Michael Fawcett, prometió títulos y la ciudadanía a un magnate saudí. Esto a cambio de una contribución económica a otra entidad benéfica del heredero, la Fundación del Príncipe.
Clarence House mantiene que Carlos, que cada vez asume más funciones de jefe de Estado ante la avanzada edad de Isabel II, «no tenía conocimiento» de esos intercambios.
POR EFE
Prince Charles accepted £1m from Osama Bin Laden’s family – report
The Prince of Wales accepted a payment of £1m from the family of Osama Bin Laden, the Sunday Times reports.
Prince Charles accepted the money from two of Osama Bin Laden’s half-brothers in 2013, two years after the al-Qaeda leader was killed, it adds.
The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF) received the donation.
Clarence House said it had been assured by PWCF that “thorough due diligence” had been conducted, and the decision to accept the money lay with the trustees.
“Any attempt to characterise it otherwise is false,” it told the BBC.
Clarence House also said it disputed a number of points made in the newspaper’s article.
Bin Laden was disowned by his family in 1994 and there is no suggestion that his half-brothers had links to his activities.
According to the report, Prince Charles accepted the money from Bakr Bin Laden, who heads the wealthy Saudi family, and Bakr’s brother Shafiq, following a meeting with Bakr at Clarence House.
The heir to the throne took the money despite objections from advisers at Clarence House and PWCF, the Sunday Times reports, citing multiple sources.
However, Sir Ian Cheshire, chairman of PWCF, told the newspaper that the 2013 donation was agreed “carefully considered” by the five trustees at the time.
“Due diligence was conducted, with information sought from a wide range of sources, including government,” Sir Ian added.
“The decision to accept the donation was taken wholly by the trustees. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate.”
The PWCF awards grants to UK-registered non-profit organisations to deliver projects in the UK, Commonwealth and overseas.
No rule has been broken, no law has been broken. All appropriate checks were carried out and even the Foreign Office was called upon to give its opinion – it cleared the donation.
So how is this front page news?
A source at the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund told the BBC that “the sins of the father” – that’s Osama Bin Laden – should not disqualify other members of the family from making a donation. Which makes sense.
But equally, did Prince Charles or his inner circle really think it was a good idea to take money from the Bin Ladens? Or did they think it was fine so long as it was never made public?
Because once it was public – however many checks were made and rules were followed – it was always going to look horrible.
Just like the enormous cash donation from a former Qatari Prime Minister or the letter from Prince Charles’s close friend and aide promising a knighthood to a Saudi citizen who had promised and made substantial donations.
Ministers and members of parliament are, in the end, governed by the ballot box. The Royal Family derives its position and authority from a different place, from a settled acceptance by the public that overall they bring credit to the country.
Does a donation from the Bin Ladens – however remote from the evildoing of a disowned son – fit into this model of monarchy?
He was killed by US forces in 2011.
A PWCF source told the BBC that “though the name [Bin Laden] has very unhappy history, the sins of the father should not be visited on the rest of the family, which is an eminent one in the region.”
The source added that the donation had been cleared by the Foreign Office.
This is not the first time that Prince Charles or his charity have been scrutinised over its donations.
It was reported last month that Prince Charles accepted a suitcase containing a million euros in cash from a former Qatari prime minister – one of three cash donations totalling around £2.5m.
Clarence House said at the time that donations from the sheikh were passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities and all the correct processes were followed.
The Charity Commission later decided against launching an investigation into the donation.
In February, the Metropolitan Police began an investigation into claims the charity offered honours help to a Saudi citizen.
Clarence House said the prince had “no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities”.
To millions of Saudis, the name Bin Laden is totally innocuous. In the West and much of the rest of the world, it will forever be associated with the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001.
But in Saudi Arabia, it is a byword for the Jeddah-based construction firm that used newfound oil wealth to fund mosques, palaces and other buildings by royal decree.
The family were not originally Saudi: they came from a part of southern Yemen, the Hadhramaut, that has produced many of Jeddah’s most successful and wealthy entrepreneurial families.
Osama, one of the many sons of the company’s founder, who emigrated from Yemen in the early 20th century, was long known as the “black sheep of the family”.
He spent much of the 1980s in Afghanistan helping the mujahideen fight the invading Soviet army, so essentially he was on the same side then as the CIA and Pakistan.
But by the 1990s, he had become a radical Islamic extremist and the family disowned him in 1994. Osama Bin Laden then moved first to Sudan, and soon after to Afghanistan. The rest is history.
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