An Indian-origin tycoon in the UK will not be allowed to visit the Buckingham Palace despite winning an auction to take part in a celebrity tennis match there after getting embroiled in a bribery scandal, a media report said on Sunday.
Bhanu Choudhrie, whose family is one of the biggest donors to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s liberal Democrat party, bid 75,000 pounds for the privilege of playing against Boris Becker and Novak Djokovic, The Sunday Times reported.
However, a week after the auction, Choudhrie, 35, and his father, Sudhir, 64, were arrested in dawn raids in london carried out by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
They were questioned for several hours over allegations of bribery and corruption involving defence contracts won by Rolls-Royce in Asia. They both have denied any wrongdoing. The tennis prize was the most prestigious lot to go under the hammer at a fund-raising dinner attended by Prince Charles at the Victoria and Albert Museum earlier this month.
The event was organised by the British Asian Trust (BAT), a charity set up at Charles’s behest to raise money for causes in India, Pakistan, Sri lanka and Bangladesh.
A source close to the event was quoted by the daily as saying that no money had been received yet from Choudhrie and his gift would not be accepted. It means the tycoon, whose business interests have included care homes, hospitals, luxury hotels and restaurants, will no longer be invited to Buckingham Palace.