Prince Charles will NOT be probed by Charity Commission over £2.5M cash donation ‘in suitcase and carrier bags’ from the former Qatari Prime Minister

• Former Qatari Prime Minister donated £2.5m in cash to the Prince’s charities 
• The alleged donations, made in cash, were ‘stuffed into bags and even holdall’
• Charity Commission has looked at information and decided against intervening 

Prince Charles will not be probed by the Charity Commission over a £2.5million cash donation ‘stuffed into a suitcase and carrier bags’ from the former Qatari Prime Minister. 

The watchdog said it has looked at the information and has decided against intervening following allegations Charles was reportedly given three million euros by a former Qatari PM, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani.

The heir to the throne, 73, faced criticism after it was claimed he was presented with three donations of nearly £900,000 a time – said to be in 500 euro notes – that was stuffed in carrier bags and a holdall between 2011 and 2015. 

While it is legal to both hand over and accept cash in the millions, concern about huge ready-money transactions has arisen in recent years.

They can be used to help launder ill-gotten gains, and potentially give enormous benefits to tax avoiders.

A royal source insisted last month that the future king operates on advice and such incidents have not happened in the past half decade and would not happen again. 

Prince of Wales visits HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth today to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falkland conflict by meeting with veterans and representatives from HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales

The watchdog said it has looked at the information and has decided against intervening following allegations Charles was reportedly given three million euros by a former Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday: ‘We have assessed the information provided by the charity and have determined there is no further regulatory role for the Commission.’

Clarence House said the donations were ‘passed immediately’ to one of the prince’s charities and that ‘appropriate governance’ was carried out. 

‘Charitable donations received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim were passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed,’ a statement said. 

According to the Sunday Times, a donation of one million euros was handed over during one meeting at the prince’s residence, Clarence House. 

The charity, which was founded in 1979 with a mission to transform lives and build sustainable communities, awards grants to UK registered non-profit organisations to deliver projects in the UK, the Commonwealth and overseas. 

Last month, a supporter of Charles admitted that while ‘the optics are unhelpful’, ‘no rules were broken’, and the unusually packaged donations were likely to have been accepted to ‘avoid causing offence’ to the sheik.

Prince Charles’s long-term confidante Michael Fawcett (pictured) resigned as head of the Prince’s Foundation at the same time – following claims he promised to help donor Dr Bin Mahfouz get not only British citizenship but a knighthood too

But a spokesman for the Charity Commission said in June: ‘We’re considering whether there’s a role for the commission to investigate these matters.’

It is only a few months since the Metropolitan Police and Charity Commission launched inquiries into allegations of a different nature surrounding links between Charles’s Prince’s Foundation – a different body to the PWCF – and Saudi billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak Bin Mahfouz’s foundation.

Prince Charles’s long-term confidante Michael Fawcett resigned as head of the Prince’s Foundation at the same time – following claims he promised to help donor Dr Bin Mahfouz get not only British citizenship but a knighthood too. Prince Charles has said he had ‘no knowledge’ of any cash-for-honours offers.

The donations from Sheikh Hamad, 62, who was prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, were reportedly personally accepted by Prince Charles.

The donations from the sheikh, who was prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, were said to have been personally accepted by Prince Charles

On one occasion around £900,000 was said to have been handed over in carrier bags from luxury shop Fortnum and Mason.

Another time, the sheikh was said to have been in a private meeting with the prince at Clarence House, in 2015, when he gave him £850,000 in a holdall.

The meetings with the sheikh were not in the official Court Circular cataloguing royal engagements.

There was no suggestion of any wrongdoing by anyone involved.

The sheikh has a personal fortune of up to £10billion and is said to consider Britain his second home.

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