Stockport council invested sums of up to £10m with the Qatar National Bank despite the country’s widely condemned human rights record. The authority deposited between £5m and £10m with the state lender during various periods between September 2019 and November this year, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
At no time was more than £10m invested with the bank and the council says it currently has no funds with QNB. The bank is half-owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) - the $450bn sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar formed in 2005 to protect and grow the country’s financial assets.
The Middle Eastern country has come under growing scrutiny since controversially being selected to host the 2022 World Cup 12 years ago. The decision has been heavily criticised due to the gulf state’s human rights record, including laws which ban homosexuality and relegate women to second class citizens. Its labour laws have also come under the microscope, with more than 6,000 migrant workers dying in Qatar since the country was chosen to hold the World Cup in 2010.
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