A charity founded by the Prince of Wales has launched an ethics investigation into ‘cash for access’ claims middlemen took cuts for setting up dinners involving wealthy donors and the heir to the throne.
The Prince’s Foundation said it’s taking allegations “very seriously” after claims individuals could pay £100,000 to secure a dinner with the charity’s founder and an overnight stay at Dumfries House, the Prince of Wales’ mansion in Scotland. An email was said to reveal fixers could take up to 25% of fees that were intended for the Prince’s charity ventures.
Embed from Getty ImagesMichael Wynne-Parker is named as the sender of the email. The British businessman has been banned in the past by official watchdogs from giving financial advice as he served as a company director. According to the November 2019 email, five per cent of fees would go to Wynne-Parker while another 20% would go to another middleman, the account of Burke’s Peerage, the “who’s who” of British aristocracy and its editor, William Bortrick, who represents the Prince.
A spokesperson for The Prince’s Foundation said: “The Prince’s Foundation takes very seriously the allegations brought to its attention by the Mail on Sunday relating to third parties who have introduced prospective donors to our charity in the past.
“We were not aware of any financial gain being sought by these individuals, whom we have never paid, and have ceased our relationship with these individuals and referred the matter to our ethics committee for investigation. Michael Wynn Parker [sic] does not represent the Prince’s Foundation, and the email he sent is not representative of the foundation’s approach to fundraising.”
The foundation was created through a merger in 2018 between the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community and others, including the Prince’s Regeneration Trust. In a statement, the foundation says it’s dependent on generous donations it receives through different activities across the world.
The investigation into the cash for access claims will be headed by Douglas Connell, the chair of the Prince’s Foundation, and Dame Susan Bruce, the chair of its ethics committee. On a separate occasion, the foundation is understood to have returned a donation from Russian banker Dmitry Leus. Leus’ own foundation lists Wynne-Parker as one of its trustees. Last autumn, information surfaced in what is said to be a part of the royal charity’s due diligence process.
According to a report from the Mail on Sunday, during a process of lobbying the Home Office for full UK residence, Leus cited a substantial donation to Prince Charles’s charities. The report also notes Leus donated funds to the local Conservative association of the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, and included letters of gratitude from Clarence House, the office of the Prince in his application.
The Mail on Sunday reports donors typically give “between £100,000 and £1m” to the Prince’s Foundation and that it’s normal practice for intermediaries to be paid a commission for facilitating charitable donations.
