ONE of the Tory party’s biggest donors transferred £1.5 million to Prince Andrew just days after the prince borrowed a similar amount from a bank controlled by the donor’s family, it has been revealed.
David Rowland, whose family owns the private Banque Havilland in Luxembourg, wired the money to Prince Andrew in 2017, according to Bloomberg.
It reports that the transfer was earmarked for the repayment of a £1.5m loan from the bank Prince Andrew had borrowed from 11 days prior.
There are now calls for an investigation, with former LibDem minister Norman Baker saying it shows that “significant questions need to be asked about Prince Andrew's business dealings and his association with some dubious characters”.
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He added that “Parliament should investigate this matter with some urgency”.
Prince Andrew was able to borrow the money despite warnings in an internal credit application that the loan was “not in line with the risk appetite of the bank".
Former employees said the bank rarely, if at all, makes unsecured loans to clients, Bloomberg reported.
But the loan was reportedly approved because it opened up “further business potential with the Royal Family”.
The document added: “While the (increased) loan is unsecured and granted solely against the credibility of the applicant, both his position and that his mother is the sovereign monarch of the United Kingdom should provide access to funds for repayment if need be.”
The loan, which was due to be paid back in March 2018, was repaid early using the £1,503,000 transferred to Prince Andrew from a Guernsey-registered company controlled by the Rowland family, according to Bloomberg.
The documents reportedly show the money was routed through a Banque Havilland account belonging to Albany Reserves Ltd, of which David is a director.
David has never had an executive role at the bank or been a director, with the company owned by a string of offshore firms controlled by his family.
However, former insiders have said there was never any doubt he was in charge.
Prince Andrew reportedly helped the bank from its early days, making pitches to clients, which included dictators and kleptocrats from around the world.
After buying the Banque Havilland, David donated £4m in two years to the Conservative Party.
David described himself as an adviser to the prince and the royal family.
At the time Prince Andrew was loaned the money, Banque Havilland was under investigation by the Luxembourg regulator for potential money laundering.
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It was later fined four million euros for not putting in safeguards to protect against money laundering.
A criminal probe into the matter remains open.
A spokesperson for the Duke of York declined to comment about the transactions but said Prince Andew is "entitled to a degree of privacy in conducting his entirely legitimate, personal financial affairs, on which all appropriate accounting measures are undertaken and all taxes duly paid".
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