LONDON: The heir to the British throne Prince Charles accepted a suitcase of cash as a charitable donation from the former prime minister of Qatar, UK media claimed on Sunday.
The Sunday Times reported that three bundles of cash were given as charitable donations from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani to the Prince of Wales.
The three lots, which totalled EUR3 million ($3.16 million), were handed to the prince personally between 2011 and 2015, the paper reported.
Despite no suggestion of any illegal payments, according to the paper, Sheikh Hamad, 62, presented the prince with EUR1m packed into carrier bags from the luxury department store Fortnum & Mason.
The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF) received the payments, according to the report, including an entity that bankrolls the prince’s private projects and his country estate in Scotland.
Clarence House has released a statement following the report, saying: “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.”