Former Qatar PM & Billionaire Who 'Bought London' Named In €3 Million Prince Charles Scandal

With an estimated personal net worth of over $1.1 billion according to Forbes, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, is one of the country¡¯s richest men.

Sometimes known as ¡°HBJ¡± in London¡¯s financial circles, the 62-year-old was named the ¡°man who bought London¡± after he had reportedly used his wealth, as well as his influence as the head of Qatar¡¯s multibillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, the Qatari Investment Authority, to expand Qatar¡¯s financial assets in London through a series of valuable assets, as per The Guardian.

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He was appointed as Qatar¡¯s deputy prime minister in 2003. In 2007, he became prime minister, a role he stepped down from in 2013.

From 2000 until 2013, he oversaw a series of high-profile investments in corporate Britain that included Harrods, the Shard (which is owned 95% by Qatar), London¡¯s Olympic Village and Park Lane¡¯s InterContinental hotel.

The billionaire, who has been central in orchestrating Qatar¡¯s involvement in international diplomacy including in Yemen, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian territories, had earned the nickname ¡°peacemaker¡± for his efforts to broker reconciliations between warring factions in Africa and the Middle East, according to a report by Middle East Eye in 2015.

In 2012, Al-Thani was selected as one of the world¡¯s 100 most influential figures by Time magazine.

But at present, the Qatar billionaire is in the headlines over alleged cash donations to Prince Charles.

As per The Guardian, the Prince of Wales accepted bags containing a total of €3m (?2.6m) in cash during meetings with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar.

The cash was reportedly handed to the heir to the British throne in a suitcase on one occasion, a holdall on another, as well as in Fortnum & Mason carrier bags, the up-market department store which holds a royal warrant to supply the prince¡¯s household with groceries.

The handovers are alleged to have occurred during meetings between the two men, including a private one-to-one meeting at Clarence House in 2015, it was claimed.

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Also Read: Death Of One Of The World's Richest Arabs Leaves Behind Messy Inheritance In Dubai

Named In Panama & Pandora Papers

The Qatar billionaire has other problems too, to deal with. In recent years, scrutiny has swung back to al-Thani¡¯s finances. In 2016, he was named by the Panama Papers, one of the biggest ever data leaks by the world¡¯s fourth-biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

As per The Guardian, Qatar¡¯s investment in Barclays during the financial crisis in 2008, when al-Thani was prime minister, became the centre of a criminal trial over the controversial services deal struck between the lender and the small Gulf state. Three former Barclays executives were accused of devising fraudulent advisory services agreements to disguise payments worth ?322m to Qatar.

In 2021, al-Thani was also named in the Pandora Papers, which revealed he had used offshore companies in tax havens including the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.

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