THE Duke of Rothesay and his most trusted aide Michael Fawcett have been reported to the police by the pressure group Republic over the cash-for-honours allegations.
Graham Smith, chief executive of the organisation which campaigns for an elected head of state, said: “Failure to properly investigate these matters will damage public trust in the police, the royals and the honours system.”
Smith said he had contacted the Metropolitan Police and reported both Charles and Fawcett on suspicion of breaching the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.
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Former royal valet Fawcett is accused of promising to help secure a knighthood and British citizenship for a Saudi billionaire donor.
Smith said: “Time and again the royals blame their staff or associates for their own mistakes.
“It is difficult to believe Charles wasn’t aware of these arrangements or promises. It’s time the royals were personally challenged over their conduct.”
Former LibDem MP Norman Baker has also written to the Met asking the force’s Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, to launch a criminal probe.
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Baker, the author of a book about royal family finances entitled And What Do You Do? said: “There appears to be prima facie evidence that an offence has been committed under the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act and it needs to be investigated.”
He called on Charles to make a statement, saying: “The prince should own up and accept responsibility for this.
“The history of him and Michael Fawcett is that when things go pear-shaped, Charles disappears into the background and pretends he doesn’t know the bloke and Michael falls on his sword, and then when a decent period of time has elapsed he gets brought back in when no-one is looking.”
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “We are aware of the media reports and await further contact in relation to this matter.”
Fawcett has stepped down temporarily from his role as chief executive of Charles’s The Prince’s Foundation, while the charity investigates his actions.
The Mail on Sunday published a letter from 2017 in which Fawcett reportedly wrote that he was willing to make an application to change businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz’s honorary CBE to a KBE, and support his application for citizenship.
The letter, written on headed notepaper in 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.
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Mahfouz, who is listed as a supporter on The Prince’s Foundation website, is said to have donated large sums to restoration projects of particular interest to Charles. He is said to deny any wrongdoing himself.
Fawcett was Charles’s most indispensable aide, with the prince once declaring: “I can manage without just about anyone, except for Michael.”
A Clarence House spokesman said: “It is right that The Prince’s Foundation is taking the investigation so seriously and we will not be commenting further whilst it is ongoing.”
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