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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 £1.5m 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 £1.5bn, he is one of the UK’s richest people
and has given at least £4.4m 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 £3.3m 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 £1.9bn. Like Hintze, he was a
founding supporter of the Dumfries House restoration. His wife, Rosemary
Said, has donated over £2.5m 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 £50,000-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 £50k 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 £100,000 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 £15,000-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 £1.2m to Charles’ charities after being
introduced by Elliot. It followed his having made more than £500,000 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>
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<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>
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https://www.youtube.com/user/PublicEnquiry/videos<br>
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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>
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q/videos<br>
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http://www.911forum.org.uk<br>
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</a>Download, donation only, Tony's three watermarked books
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