Charity watchdogs are facing fresh demands to probe Prince Charles ’s charity after it was claimed he accepted £1million from Osama bin Laden’s family.
Charles, 73, allegedly received the money from Bakr and Shafiq bin Laden, half-brothers of the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11.
Reports claim he brokered the deal after a private meeting at Clarence House with Bakr, 76, on October 30, 2013, two years after US special forces killed Bin Laden, 54, in Pakistan.
Royal sources have denied Charles was involved in organising the cash or that he accepted the money despite advisers’ objections.
It comes weeks after it was revealed Charles had accepted one million euros in cash stuffed in a Fortnum & Mason bag from the ex-Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani – an allegation the Charity Commission refused to investigate.
Ex-Lib Dem Cabinet minister and royal author Norman Baker said: “Prince Charles continues to show a serious lack of judgment about who he accepts money from. He never seems to ask the question about whether or not he should turn money down.
“Is this really appropriate behaviour for the heir to the throne? Or is it more like the behaviour of Boris Johnson?
“The Charity Commission should investigate, not just this particular issue, but the entirety of his behaviour when it comes to accepting money.”
And Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said: “This suggests the Charity Commission should have a second more thorough look. It seems Prince Charles has got a poor track record in terms of attracting money in very unorthodox ways.”
Allegations made in the Sunday Times say Charles accepted the donation despite objections of advisers at Clarence House and the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.
Several advisers pleaded with him to return the money, according to sources.
A total of 2,977 people were killed, including 67 Brits in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the New York World Trade Center and other US locations.
Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden inspired the attacks from a mountain hideout in Afghanistan.
A source told The Sunday Times: “The fact 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?” Charles, who dined with Bakr two weeks after 9/11 to “discuss Islamic faith”, is said to have believed it would have been too embarrassing to give the money back.
PWCF chairman Sir Ian Cheshire said the donation was “wholly” agreed by its five trustees.
Reports yesterday suggested the Foreign Office approved the PWCF taking the money.
There is no suggestion Bakr or Shafiq were involved in terrorism.
Clarence House said: “The PWCF has assured us thorough due diligence was undertaken. The decision to accept was taken by the charity’s trustees alone.”
The Charity Commission and the FCO declined to comment.
