Nectar Trust: Qatar’s tool to penetrate UK

Shaimaa Yahya

Under the guise of humanitarian aid, Qatar has exploited charitable foundations to support the most dangerous extremist organizations in the world, especially funding the activities of the Brotherhood, and to establish a foothold in Europe.

Qatar Charity has been Doha’s greatest tool to penetrate Europe. In 2012, a branch was established in Britain, and it officially launched in 2014. But Doha then changed the name of the institution from Qatar Charity UK to Nectar Trust, in an attempt to mislead and to repel the suspicions that surround it.

Nectar Trust has been involved in financing extremist and radical groups. According to reports, Doha used political money to earn loyalty and buy support, but later turned the foundation into a safe haven to finance terrorism and transfer money around the world easily and conveniently. From 2007 to 2017, Doha spent more than €120 million on projects in Europe, especially in Britain.

According to the Guardian, former Nectar Trust CEO Yousef al-Kuwari, a former Qatari official, was involved in establishing a website calling for racist attacks on the basis of belief. He stepped down as CEO in 2018, and then one of his former advisers, Yousuf al-Hammadi, took over the position. However, Kuwari held the same position in the parent institution in Doha, which was included on the lists of terrorism by the Arab Quartet countries in 2017.

The institution’s name was changed to Nectar Trust in order to hide the link to the parent organization in Doha, which is known to be supportive of radical groups, especially the Brotherhood, as well as to distance the foundation’s connection to Kuwari.

Nectar dis-Trust

The UK Charity Commission, which provides oversight for charities in Britain, expressed its concerns about the independence of Nectar Trust in the country, which provides millions of pounds to mosques and other organizations throughout Britain. It was later listed as a terrorist organization in a number of countries in the Middle East in 2017.

Five years ago, the Charity Commission began taking moves against the foundation after it was revealed that 98% of Qatar’s funding in Britain comes from Nectar Trust. In 2014, Nectar Trust received money transfers worth £451,605 from the parent association in Doha.

In 2015, the oversight authority revealed its concern about all the trustees of the charity in the United Kingdom and their association with the parent institution in Doha, knowing that three of the seven members of its board are Qatar Charity managers or employees and receive their salaries from the Doha headquarters, while the remaining four have relations with it.

In 2017, the Telegraph revealed that a Kuwaiti person involved in planning the September 11, 2001 attacks was supervising the construction of a mosque in Sheffield that was funded by Nectar Trust, although this person was excluded from taking the position of director of the mosque.