Prince William’s charity reported to Charity Commission over businessman’s links to Epstein files
The Earthshot prize is being examined over Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s donations of at least £1 million
Prince William's Earthshot Prize has been reported to the Charity Commission over one of its founding partners’ alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein.
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Anti-monarchy group Republic lodged the complaint after Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem was named in the Epstein files as the individual the child sex offender emailed, saying he “loved the torture video”.
Sulayem has since been dropped as the Emirati chairman and chief executive of DP World, a logistics business. The multibillion-dollar company based in Dubai donated at least £1 million to the charity, which awards £1 million to climate solutions.
On Friday, it announced the appointment of Essa Kazim as new Chairman of the Board and Yuvraj Narayan as new Group Chief Executive Officer. In a statement, DP World said the leadership change was part of efforts to “strengthen governance and institutional leadership”.
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At the time of the email, Epstein was still serving his 18-month sentence in a Palm Beach jail but was allowed work release.
The recipient of the April 2009 email was previously redacted, but after members of Congress were permitted to view unredacted evidence this week, Rep. Thomas Massie confirmed to US media that the email was sent to Sulayem.
William and Sulayem have been seen together on multiple occasions, and Sulayem has publicly supported the charity.
Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, said: "William has lots of questions to answer about what he knew about Andrew and Epstein. And now he must explain his relationship with Sulayem".
"Earthshot has a duty to do due diligence, to ask questions about donors and where money is coming from. Did they do that here? If so, did William overrule their better judgment?"
A Charity Commission spokesperson told ITV: “We are aware of concerns about sources of funding to the Earthshot Prize. We are assessing this information to determine any next steps and if there is a role for the commission".