Prince Andrew's charity 'broke law' by paying trustee 拢350,000, watchdog says
It comes a day after US prosecutors criticised the duke for breaking promises to talk to them about former friend Jeffrey Epstein.
Tuesday 9 June 2020 20:18, UK
The Duke of York's charitable trust breached charity law in relation to payments of more than 拢300,000 to a former trustee, according to a report from the Charity Commission.
The commission found that Prince Andrew's charity had paid £355,000 to a former trustee to work as a director for three subsidiary companies, which is in breach of the rules.
Helen Earner, director of operations at the Charity Commission, said: "Charity is special - with unpaid trusteeship a defining characteristic of the sector.
"By allowing the payment of a trustee via its subsidiaries, the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust breached charity law, and by insufficiently managing the resulting conflict of interest from this payment the trustees did not demonstrate the behaviour expected of them.
"We're glad that concerns we identified are now resolved, after the charity acted quickly and efficiently to rectify these matters. The recovered funds will now go towards the causes intended, and we will continue to work with the trustees as they wind up the charity."
The Charity Commission said in a statement: "The former trustee was an employee of the Duke of York's household, and from April 2015 to January 2020 undertook work for the trading subsidiaries.
"The Duke of York's household was then reimbursed for a proportion of this employee's time by the subsidiaries after the year end. These payments totalled £355,297."
The money has since been paid back to the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust.
The trust has also notified the commission of its intention to wind up, with the remaining funds being distributed to other charities.
In a statement trustees of the charity said they "inadvertently breached charity law".
The statement continued: "The current Trustees… are grateful to the Charity Commission for its support in bringing this matter to a satisfactory conclusion with the payment of funds by HRH The Duke of York's office to the Trust."
The announcement from the commission comes after a war of words broke out on Monday between Prince Andrew and prosecutors in America over whether the duke had been willing to answer questions about his former friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement the duke's legal team said he had offered to talk to authorities in America on three occasions this year.
But the US prosecutor, who claimed he had offered "zero cooperation", said about the statement that "Prince Andrew yet again sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate with an ongoing federal criminal investigation….even though the prince has not given an interview to federal authorities, has repeatedly declined our request to schedule such an interview, and nearly four months ago informed us unequivocally - through the very same counsel who issued today's release - that he would not come in for such an interview."