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<font size=5><b><i>The pressure group Republic has contacted Scotland

Yard and reported both future king Charles and his former royal valet

Michael Fawcett on suspicion of breaching the Honours (Prevention of

Abuses) Act 1925.<br><br>

</i></font><h1><b>Concerns raised over top Tory donors bankrolling Prince

Charles’ charity</b></h1><font size=4><b><i>Super-rich Conservative

supporters accused of "buying access" as scale of Tory links to

the Prince’s Foundation revealed<br>

</i></b></font>

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/author/seth-thevoz/">Seth

Thévoz</a> 9 September 2021, 12.00am

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/top-tory-donors-are-bankrolling-prince-charles-charity/" eudora="autourl">

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/top-tory-donors-are-bankrolling-prince-charles-charity/</a>

<ul>

<li>“It is alarming, deeply unfair, and very damaging to our democracy,

that such access should be so readily for sale."

</ul>Prince Charles’ embattled charity has been bankrolled by major Tory

donors, whose names are engraved across its headquarters in

Scotland.<br><br>

The Prince's Foundation's has been supported by a host of leading

Conservative donors, including hedge fund manager Michael Hintze, finance

and property tycoon Wafic Said, and David Brownlow, who funded the

controversial renovation of Boris Johnson's Downing Street flat.<br><br>

Transparency campaigners have raised concerns about the the super-rich

buying access to the Royal family.<br><br>

News of the ties between the Prince's charity and leading Tory donors

comes after

<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-charles-aides-fixed-cbe-for-saudi-tycoon-who-gave-1-5m-0b5cb7qf2">

revelations</a> that a Saudi tycoon, Mahfouz bin Mahfouz, was given an

honorary CBE after donating more than Ł1.5m to royal charities. A string

of leaked emails were “explicit about the transactional nature of the

agreement”.<br><br>

<h3><font size=4><b>

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/petition-dark-money-uk-politics/?source=taggable-block">

Get dark money out of UK politics</a>  </b></font></h3><b>Sign our

petition to tell the government to tighten electoral laws and shine more

light on political donations. We need to know who is giving what to our

political parties.<br><br>

</b>His money helped fund the multimillion pound restoration of Dumfries

House, an 18th century stately home owned by the Prince’s Foundation,

which is based there.<br><br>

Parts of the estate are now named after wealthy donors. Mahfouz has a

fountain, a wood, a garden and a building all named after him, following

his donations, while others are commemorated on plaques.<br><br>

Dumfries House does not declare all of its donors, with several listed as

“anon”. But among those who have been named, there appears to be an

overlap with some of the Conservative Party’s top donors.<br><br>

Hedge fund manager

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/prince-charles-billionaire-adviser-stands-to-gain-from-australia-trade-deal/">

Michael Hintze</a> was a “founding supporter” of the building’s

restoration. He was knighted by Prince Charles in 2013, for services to

the arts.<br><br>

With an estimated fortune of Ł1.5bn, he is one of the UK’s richest people

and has given at least Ł4.4m to the Conservatives since 2003. This

includes donating money directly to Boris Johnson and Theresa

May.<br><br>

Another donor,

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/boris-johnson-borrowed-52000-for-downing-street-refurb/">

David Brownlow</a>, is the founder of Huntswood business consultancy, and

a major donor to Dumfries House’s parklands and gardens. He and his

companies have also given Ł3.3m to the Tories since 2005.<br><br>

Brownlow has faced questions over

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/boris-johnson-borrowed-52000-for-downing-street-refurb/">

an undeclared donation</a> to the Conservative Party last year, to help

pay for the

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/boris-johnson-charged-taxpayers-28000-for-fancy-floorboards-refurb/">

refurbishment</a> of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat. The Electoral

Commission is still investigating the affair, after saying there were

“reasonable grounds” to suspect an offence may have occurred. He was

appointed to the House of Lords in 2019, becoming Baron Brownlow of

Shurlock Row.<br><br>

Finance and property tycoon Wafic Said is currently listed as the 89th

richest person in the UK, with a fortune of Ł1.9bn. Like Hintze, he was a

founding supporter of the Dumfries House restoration. His wife, Rosemary

Said, has donated over Ł2.5m to the Conservatives since 2005.<br><br>

Hintze, Brownlow and Ann Said have all been members of

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/inside-elite-tory-fundraising-machine/">

the elite Ł50,000-a-year Leader's Group</a> of top Tory donors. The

Conservative Party

<a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tories-refuse-reveal-billionaire-donor-24825563">

no longer releases</a> information about the Leader’s Group membership,

making it impossible to tell if they are still members. However, they

still continue to donate more than enough to qualify for the Ł50k annual

membership fee.<br><br>

Sue Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, said on the

Mahfouz donation: "It is increasingly clear that wealthy

businessmen, including from highly corrupt jurisdictions, see making

donations to the governing party and the royal family as a way to gain

influence and access.<br><br>

“It is alarming, deeply unfair, and very damaging to our democracy, that

such access should be so readily for sale."<br><br>

<h3><b>Related

story</b></h3>

<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/take-opendemocracys-big-tory-donor-quiz/?source=in-article-related-story">

Take openDemocracy’s Big Tory donor quiz</a><br>

09-09-2021 | Stewart Kirkpatrick<br>

How much do you know about where the Conservative Party gets its money

from?<br><br>

<h2><b>'Access' to Prince Charles</b></h2>The Prince’s Foundation is

<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/29/prince-of-wales-charity-princes-foundation-launches-inquiry-into-cash-for-access-claims">

conducting an investigation</a> over allegations that middlemen were

charging Ł100,000 for dinners with Prince Charles. Reports said that

fixers were taking a 25% cut for themselves, and offering an overnight

stay at Dumfries House as part of the package.<br><br>

The Sunday Times has also reported that a concierge company owned by the

Conservative Party’s co-chairman, Ben Elliot,

<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-chairman-ben-elliot-peddled-access-to-prince-charles-hsw5t5bzr">

“peddled access to Prince Charles”</a>, offering dinners with the Prince

as part of its Ł15,000-a-year service. Elliot is the nephew of Prince

Charles’ wife, the Duchess of Cornwall.<br><br>

One donor, Mohamed Amersi, was

<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-chairman-ben-elliot-peddled-access-to-prince-charles-hsw5t5bzr">

reportedly encouraged</a> to give Ł1.2m to Charles’ charities after being

introduced by Elliot. It followed his having made more than Ł500,000 of

donations to the Conservative Party.<br><br>

Duncan Hames, director of policy at Transparency International UK said:

“We welcome the investigation of matters at The Prince’s Foundation,

where it is alleged that wealthy donors could buy access to the Prince of

Wales. Once concluded, the findings of this inquiry should be published

in full to help assure the public that those who are awarded honours

receive them solely on merit, not as a result of the depth of their

pockets.”<br><br>

Clarence House

<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/06/norman-baker-urges-police-investigation-mahfouz-prince-charles">

has said</a> that Prince Charles had “no knowledge” of any

access-peddling.<br><br>

Sir Michael Hintze, Lord Brownlow, and Wafic Said did not respond to a

request to comment, while The Prince’s Foundation also declined to

comment.</body>

<br>

<body>

<font size=4><b>And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took

bread, and blessed <i>it</i>, and brake, and gave to them.

<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/24-31.htm">31</a> And their eyes were

opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 

<a href="http://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/24.htm" eudora="autourl">

http://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/24.htm</a> 'Capitalism is institutionalised

bribery' TG<br>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/PublicEnquiry/videos" eudora="autourl">

https://www.youtube.com/user/PublicEnquiry/videos<br>

</a></b></font>"And I think, in the end, that is the best definition

of journalism I have heard; to challenge authority - all authority -

especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they

have decided that they will kill and others will die. "<br>

--Robert Fisk <br>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q/videos" eudora="autourl">

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q/videos<br>

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http://www.thisweek.org.uk<br>

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http://www.911forum.org.uk<br>

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http://www.tlio.org.uk<br>

</a>Download, donation only, Tony's three watermarked books

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