The architect of new laws mandating the stoning to death of gay people in Brunei has billions of pounds of property wealth in the UK, shares in a leading tech fund and gets assistance from City auditing firms, a Guardian analysis has found.
Hassanal Bolkiah, the sultan of Brunei, owns a slew of properties in the super-rich enclaves of Kensington and Ascot, including luxury hotels and polo parks. One property alone could be worth an estimated £500m in rent each year.
He has also invested millions of pounds in Draper Esprit, a tech-focused venture capital fund with holdings in Trustpilot and the financial services firm Revolut. Until recently his global hotel empire was audited by the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Bolkiah has become an international pariah for his implementation of sharia laws, including the stoning to death of people thought to be gay or to have committed adultery, in the country he has ruled as a supreme monarch for decades. » | David Pegg, Hilary Osborne and Caelainn Barr | Sunday, April 14, 2019
