Prince's charity shuts in wake of fraud inquiry

A statement from the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health, which promotes using complementary medicines and controversial therapies such as homeopathy within the NHS, said the planned closure had been brought forward as a result of a fraud investigation.

The formal closure process would take several weeks but the charity had stopped its operations with immediate effect.

The 49-year-old man was arrested on Monday with a 54-year-old woman, both on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said both were bailed until June.

The arrests reportedly followed an investigation into 300,000 of unaccounted funds in the books of the charity, set up in 1993 by Charles.

A statement from the charity said: "The Trustees of the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health have decided to close the charity.

"Whilst the closure has been planned for many months and is part of an agreed strategy, the trustees have brought forward the closure timetable as a result of a fraud investigation at the charity.

"The Trustees feel that The Foundation has achieved its key objective of promoting the use of integrated health. Since The Foundation was set up in 1993, integrated health has become part of the mainstream healthcare agenda, with over half a million patients using complementary therapies each year, alongside conventional medicine."

The Foundation has come under fire from health professionals, MPs, and scientists for promoting new-age unscientific approaches to health care.