Prince Charles dragged into Russian dirty cash scandal after oligarch’s £150k charity donation ‘funnelled through offshore network’

PRINCE Charles has been dragged into a money laundering scandal after it was claimed his charity received donations from an offshore company used to funnel vast sums from Russia.

Oligarch Ruben Vardanyan gave £153,000 towards the prince's rescue mission for a Scottish stately home via a company in a Caribbean tax haven.

The cash may have been channelled through a complex scheme that was used to launder £3.5bn of illicit funds, according to a leak of international banking data.

Leaks suggest some of that wealth ended up at Dumfries House, an estate in Ayrshire formerly owned by the Marquess of Bute.

Prince Charles led efforts to save the house and its priceless furniture when it faced being sold in 2007.

Mr Vardanyan, a Russian-Armenian financier and pal of Vladimir Putin, was one of a number of wealthy donors who helped the Prince's Charities Foundation raise £5million for the restoration.

The oligarch was pictured shaking hands with Charles at a black tie dinner to thank donors.

He owned the Troika Dialog bank in Russia, but says he was not involved in day-to-day operations.

The bank is now at the centre of a criminal probe into the "Troika Laundromat" scheme to move cash offshore.

FRAUD PROBE

Billions of dollars were funnelled through Ukio bank in Lithuania to a network of 70 shell companies, according to documents seen by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

It is alleged that dirty money from one of Russia's biggest frauds was mixed with legitimate wealth and "spun" through the scheme before being spent on private jets, superyachts, luxury homes and school fees in Europe and the US.

Leaked documents show the Prince's Foundation received $202,000 (£154,000) from Mr Vardanyan in three payments from a Ukio account linked to Quantus Division, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Mr Vardanyan made a further donation of £1.5million to the Dumfries restoration through his UK-registered charity.

There is no suggestion he was aware of alleged wrongdoing by staff at his bank, which has since merged with another.

Clarence House said the prince's charities "operate independently of the prince himself in relation to all decisions around fundraising".

A spokesman for the charities said they applied "robust due diligence" in accordance with regulatory procedures and "no red flags arose" with regard to the donations.

He added: "The allegations made against these individuals have only emerged well after their involvement with the charities ceased in 2014 and, as such, could not have been considered at the time."

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