Prince Charles took £1m off Enron

PRINCE CHARLES was dragged into the Enron scandal last night after it was revealed he lunched with Ken Lay, boss of the collapsed American energy giant, at the tycoon's Texas mansion.

In a further embarrassing disclosure, it was confirmed that Enron executives were regular visitors to St James's Palace after the company gave the Prince's Trust charity £1m.

The close links between Charles and Enron came amid dramatic new evidence of the way the company bought its way into the highest echelons of the British Establishment. Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, the City, the BBC and sections of Fleet Street are all now involved in one of the biggest financial and political scandals in history, jeopardising the reputations of several British, as well as American, public figures.

Courtiers confirmed Enron's access to St James's Palace, and a Prince's Trust official said: 'Between 1991 and 1999, Enron did donate £1m to the Prince's Trust. Like most charities, it would be normal for our major corporate supporters to attend appropriate events.'

Charles was guest of honour at a lunch at Lay's home in Houston in February 1993. And Enron executives attended functions at St James's Palace, some in 1997 and 1998, the period during which the company gave £36,000 to the Labour Party to persuade Ministers to change Government policy to boost their profits.

Ralph Hodge, ex-boss of Enron Europe, awarded the CBE for 'services to the power generation and gas industries', was among Enron guests at St James's Palace.

The Labour-supporting chairman of the BBC, multi-millionaire banker Gavyn Davies, has also had past links with Enron. Davies is one of Chancellor Gordon Brown's closest friends. His wife, Sue Nye, runs the Chancellor's private office. As chief economist for US bank Goldman Sachs, he was offered £35,000 a year to join an Enron panel of experts.

Davies turned down the cash because Enron was a client of the bank, but he admitted attending six meetings in two years to advise it. He was invited to join the panel by Irwin Stelzer, media baron Rupert Murdoch's economics guru, who was paid £35,000 a year by Enron.

Stelzer's approach in 1999 coincided with a bid by Murdoch, who owns The Times and The Sun, to woo Blair. Stelzer has been a consistent Enron cheerleader. In late 1999, writing in The Sunday Times, he praised them for creating jobs in Britain. He did not disclose his link to the firm.

New Labour, St James's Palace, the BBC and the Murdoch Empire - Enron entangled them all
WITH each day that passes it becomes evident that the web of influence spun by collapsed American energy giant Enron and its accountants Arthur Andersen spread wider than any had thought possible.

Enquiries by The Mail on Sunday's Investigations Unit now reveal that in Britain, the net included not only the most powerful figures in New Labour, but the Chairman of the BBC, Rupert Murdoch's economics guru...and even the Prince of Wales. It raises increasingly disturbing questions about the extent to which money was used to buy influence. Click below for the full stories.

Andersengate...and the accountant called Two Books who came back to haunt New Labour

ENRONGATE 1: The Prince who took £1m

ENRONGATE 2: The Murdoch guru who puffed Enron's businesses in Sunday Times columns

ENRONGATE 3: The BBC chairman who was an adviser to Gordon Brown...and Enron

ENRONGATE 4: The extraordinary history of the flat bought by the Chancellor from Enron‘s accountants

ENRONGATE 5: Robinson paid Labour's £500,000 bill