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London’s Metropolitan Police has shelved an investigation into alleged cash for honours involving King Charles’s charity, the Prince’s Foundation, and a Saudi businessman.
Scotland Yard said on Monday it would be taking no further action over the probe, which was launched in February 2022 after the Sunday Times newspaper published allegations that Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz had paid tens of thousands of pounds to people connected to the King, who was Prince of Wales at the time.
In return, fixers to the heir to the throne allegedly told the billionaire Saudi businessman that they would help him secure honours and UK citizenship.
The Met said its special inquiry team had contacted “those believed to hold relevant information”, liaised with the Prince’s Foundation and reviewed more than 200 documents. It also interviewed two men in connection with the case.
“Offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 and Bribery Act 2010 were considered,” it said, after relevant files had been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service.
But it added: “With the benefit of the CPS’s early investigative advice, and after careful consideration of the information received as a result of the investigation to date, the Met has concluded that no further action will be taken in this matter.”
Prince Charles denied all knowledge of the matter when the investigation was launched. He has not been questioned, and no one was detained or charged, in relation to the probe.
Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat MP who in 2021 called on the Met to investigate the claims published in the Sunday Times, described the force’s decision to shut the case as a “disgrace”.
“You have to conclude that the decision not to proceed is based not on the merits of the case but on the individuals involved,” he said.
Bin Mahfouz was made an honorary Commander of the British Empire for services to charity at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 2016. A fountain and garden were also named after him at Dumfries House in Scotland, an estate that Prince Charles took charge of restoring and which is run by his charity.
Bin Mahfouz was also an ambassador and patron for the Prince’s Foundation.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by either bin Mahfouz or King Charles.
After the press reports, the foundation opened its own inquiry, following which Michael Fawcett resigned as chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation. He was previously the King’s senior valet.
The Prince’s Foundation said it had “noted the decision of the Metropolitan Police. Following the conclusion of its own independent investigation and governance review last year, the charity is moving forward with a continued focus on delivering the education and training programmes for which it has been established.”
Separately, the watchdog for charities in Scotland on Monday said its own investigations into the Prince’s Foundation remained open. An inquiry by the Scottish Charity Regulator was launched following allegations that a Tory peer had been ennobled by Prince Charles after the peer’s company stepped in to acquire one of the charity’s failed projects.
“The Scottish Charity Regulator is aware of the statement issued today by the Metropolitan Police regarding allegations of offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 and The Prince’s Foundation, a charity registered in Scotland,” the regulator said. “Our separate investigation into other allegations made against this charity is ongoing. We will publish a report on this matter when our investigation has concluded,” it added.
