Detectives investigating cash-for-honours allegations involving King Charles’s charity The Prince’s Foundation will take no further action, the Met Police has said.
The Met launched an investigation last year following a series of newspaper articles accusing former close confidant to the King, Michael Fawcett, of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor obtain British citizenship and a knighthood.
Mr Fawcett, 60, resigned as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation in the wake of the allegations.
The Met said the decision to take no further action followed advice from prosecutors and consideration of the information received to date, including interviews with ‘a number of witnesses and [having] reviewed in excess of 200 documents’.
It added that no arrests had been made and that ‘any new information or evidence’ that comes to light ‘that requires further assessment’ will be investigated by the special enquiry team.
The case had focused on a letter first published in the Mail on Sunday in which Mr Fawcett, a long-time aide of the King and a former chief executive of the charity, offered to help a wealthy Saudi donor in exchange for his ongoing generosity.
In the letter from 2017, Mr Fawcett reportedly wrote that he was willing to make an application to change businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz’s honorary CBE to a knighthood, and support his application for citizenship.
The letter, written on headed notepaper in Mr Fawcett’s then-capacity as chief executive of the Dumfries House Trust, said the applications would be made in response to ‘the most recent and anticipated support’ of the trust.
Mr Mahfouz is reported to have donated large sums to restoration projects of particular interest to Charles. Mr Mahfouz is said to deny any wrongdoing.
Anti-monarchy group Republic made a formal complaint to Met detectives about Charles and Mr Fawcett in September 2021 following the stories.
Scotland Yard said in a statement today: ‘The Metropolitan Police Service has concluded an investigation into allegations of offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.
‘The Met’s Special Enquiry Team (SET) launched an investigation after an assessment of a letter passed to police on 5 September 2021, following media reporting.
‘The assessment process included contacting those believed to hold relevant information. This process included liaison with The Prince’s Foundation about the findings of an independent investigation into fundraising practices.
