Bin Laden family donated £1 million to Prince Charles charity

Agencies | London

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, accepted a £1 million ($1.19 million, 1.21 million euro) donation to his charitable trust from the family of Osama bin Laden, The Sunday Times reported.

Although there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing, the revelation increases scrutiny on the 73-year-old prince's charity organisations, which have been rocked by allegations of criminal activity.

Several of his advisers urged Charles not to take the donation from family patriarch Bakr bin Laden and his brother Shafiq -- half-brothers of Osama -- according to sources cited by the paper.

Charles, 73, agreed to the donation to the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund (PWCF) when he met with Bakr, 76, at Clarence House in London in 2013, despite objections of advisers from the trust and his office, the paper reported.

Ian Cheshire, chairman of PWCF, said the donation was agreed by the five trustees at the time. The Prince's Foundation, set up in 1986, is registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator.

The Scottish body in September launched its own probe into reports that the foundation accepted cash from a Russian banker previously convicted of money laundering.