Society fixer banned by charity watchdog over funds meant for King’s Foundation

A society fixer has been disqualified by the charity watchdog after almost £200,000 in donations meant for the King’s Foundation were transferred to his private company’s bank account.

Michael Wynne-Parker, who was a trustee of the Mahfouz Foundation, has been deemed unfit to serve as a charity trustee and disqualified from holding a senior management position or trustee role in any charity for 12 years.

The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation in 2022 following a series of newspaper articles about a so-called cash-for-honours scandal, amid other claims of cash for access to the then Prince of Wales.

Stories accused Mr Wynne-Parker, 78, of offering a cash for access deal to meet Charles, while former close confidant to the King, Michael Fawcett, was accused of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz achieve British citizenship and a knighthood.

Mr Fawcett, Charles’s former valet who rose through the ranks, resigned as chief executive of the-then Prince’s Foundation in the wake of the allegations.

It was announced in 2023 that detectives would be taking no further action.

The Charity Commission said Mr Wynne-Parker had been a trustee of the Mahfouz Foundation – founded by the Saudi billionaire in his own name.

It was registered in 2012 with aims to advance the education of the UK public in the history, literature, language, institutions and culture of the Middle East.

But the charity watchdog began looking into concerns about the charity in 2021, including if a series of payments received from donors were used as intended and the trustees’ overall management and administration of the charity.

Its investigation followed media reports alleging donations from Russian banker Dmitry Leus intended for the King’s Foundation, were instead paid to The Mahfouz Foundation and that some of these funds were then transferred elsewhere.

The regulator’s probe found trustees had allowed the Mahfouz Foundation’s bank account to be “primarily used as a conduit” to transfer funds on behalf of third parties, including deposits into the charity’s bank accounts that donors thought were going directly to the King’s Foundation.

A total of £193,730 of the donations intended for the King’s Foundation were identified as having been transferred from the charity’s bank account to Mr Wynne-Parker’s private company’s bank account – a transaction the watchdog said was authorised by the trustees.

Some £106,270 was returned to the donor and the commission’s inquiry secured the repayment of £49,581 by the trustees “to make good losses the charity had incurred as a result of misapplied funds”.

A total of £500,000 from Mr Leus was sent to the Mahfouz Foundation, which was intended for the King’s Foundation.

A donation of £100,000 was transferred to the King’s Foundation in May 2020, but Charles’ charity later decided to return it on September 24 2020 and not to accept any further funds from Mr Leus.

A day later, the King’s Foundation’s then chief executive Mr Fawcett, alongside Mr Mahfouz’s employee William Bortrick arranged for £200,000 of Mr Leus’ donation to be transferred to Children and the Arts – another charity founded by Charles as the Prince of Wales.

The inquiry found that this “constituted a misapplication of £200,000 of charitable funds which were restricted for use by the King’s Foundation”.

Mr Fawcett told the inquiry it was his understanding Mr Bortrick was in communication with Mr Leus about the arrangements.

Children and the Arts, set up by Charles as the Prince of Wales Arts and Kids Foundation in 2004, was in the process of winding up its activities, and the money was used to settle its outstanding liabilities because it had insufficient funds left.

A surplus £41,000 was later transferred to the King’s Foundation.

The commission said it had advised Mr Leus to go to the police if he considers himself to have been a victim of a crime, adding that the watchdog’s remit does not extend to investigating criminal matters.

The Mahfouz Foundation was removed from the charity register in October 2023.

Meanwhile, the commission has also disqualified Mr Bortrick and Mark Ayre, both former trustees of Burke’s Peerage Foundation, which had links with the Mahfouz Foundation.

The pair were found to have bought antique furniture, paintings and statues with funds from the charity, which had been set up to promote education in genealogy and personal heritage.

In one case a desk and bookcase were bought for £16,000 using the charity’s funds and then kept and used at Mr Bortrick’s home.

Both Mr Bortrick and Mr Ayre have been disqualified from being trustees or senior managers at any charity for 12 years and the commission said it had recovered £113,000 of misapplied charitable funds from the trustees.

The Burke’s Peerage Foundation was removed from the charity register in August 2023.

Of Mr Wynne-Parker, Angela Ascroft from the commission, said he had “demonstrated scant regard for the charity’s purposes, instead allowing the charity to be misused as a conduit for funds that were misapplied and misused”.

She said Mr Bortrick and Mr Ayre “provided contradictory statements and proved to be unreliable witnesses” who “failed in their most basic duty to act in the charity’s best interests”.

A spokesperson for the King’s Foundation said: “The findings of the report have been noted by the King’s Foundation.”

An independent investigation, instructed by the King’s Foundation in 2021, looked at the charity’s fundraising practices.

It found Mr Fawcett, formerly the King’s most trusted aide, co-ordinated with “fixers” over honours nominations for a donor, and that he was involved in directing a transfer of funds from the Mahfouz Foundation to the Children and the Arts Foundation.

A new range of robust governance practices was subsequently introduced by the King’s Foundation.