Sentebale #5

[glitterturd]

As I finished the last one.

Archewell is Delaware registered no?

How do you know the SS are responsible? I'm not supporting them, BTW, but interested in the evidence.

It is Delaware-registered. This is showing up to be quite a nasty story - donated money being shunted around as a tax dodge.

The fact that they don't own their Montecito mansion, but are shareholders in a REIT which they set up to acquire it, is a tax dodge too. I'm always a bit disappointed that this hasn't been looked into properly as it's unusual for non-commercial property. But US REIT regs are pretty byzantine and private REITS have very few disclosure obligations, so it's probably low priority when there's so much lower hanging fruit.

But didn’t he speak out in support of Harry when this fiasco started a few weeks ago?

I'm assuming the sustained and intrusive media presence comment she made. I've seen scene shots of vicious comments about Dr. Sophie. I've also read comments on reddit and on Dan Woottin over the years about people who antagonized the SS. Then there are years of attacks on other people and charities.

So yes, I spoke without direct evidence based purely on my observations and my personal experiences on MN.

Just as an example, they were sharing her details online - Note the “Gotcha” comment underneath. Dr Ikpoh’s instagram account wasn’t private at the time its details were posted, in the tweet below but now is.

I think that was a cousin who used to be o nthe board and was part of the mass resignation.

@Serenster thanks for posting that. I am not surprised. That poor woman!

@Weepixie That was another relative of the king who is one of the trustees who resigned. Dr. Sophie said his meeting attendance was poor.

@GiveMeSpanakopita spot on with your post at 1206. Even moré so with thé wholesale withdrawal of soft power USAID money from developing countries from which Sentebale has benefited according to their annual reports.

Africa is looking East. For Lesotho, this could mean improved infrastructure, Mining, diamonds, a few more factories making jeans, the odd solar farm to appease regulations and go go go funnel away the money. Sadly not usually those who need it.

Bu bye, white princeling with your tax dodging hug worthy pr opportunities, and I am also afraid to say bu bye to Ms C and her grand plans about climate change.

The zeitgeist is with neither. But at least Ms C has a proper career, unless her professional reputation is fatally damaged by association in some as yet unknown way.

What is a RÉIT?

Dr. Sophie is the only one that comes out of this with dignity, in my opinion.

Hon Dr from the former Coventry Poly. Very different from a PhD. This really annoys me.

Hon doc is not generally used in the UK as a title and considered a bit infra dig.

It does work both ways though. A family member spent several years as a junior lecturer in the US and we were all both amused and horrified when he started calling himself Professor back here in the U K.

At least he had done some academic teaching though.

My understanding of the climate change reference is that it's in the context of the resilience of young people to withstand the impact of climate change. If Chinese investment is busy building infrastructure, doesn't that leave a place for Western charities to carry on supporting humanitarian causes, with a focus on local ownership and skills transfer?

Real Estate Investment Trust. It's a tax 'efficient' structure for property investment which was launched in the UK in 2007 but has I believe a longer history in the US.

Whilst it's useful for institutional property investors such as Blackstone, as it minimises tax payable by their shareholders, it's mainly used for investing in large portfolios of commercial or public use property. I'm not an expert, but it's very unusual to see the structure employed for ownership of one family property. I speculate that it's a tax dodge done for tax efficiency, although I have seen American property people speculate that it was to do with the conditions of Harry's visa.

Either way, I'm not sure how a diligent commitment to avoiding tax squares with the 'life of service' (actual quote) which H&M pledged to lead upon leaving the RF.

Mind you, I also struggle to see how flogging high fructose sweet spread and providing affiliate links for designer togs square with a life of service either.

The Chinese are very good at skills transfer - they'll swoop in to say, Zambia, buy up swathes of land, build factories, mines, build and open local schools and hospitals and run training and colleges by which locals can get qualifications in mine management/factory management.

For Zambians, it beats hands down the Western approach of 'Ooooh, no we can't fund a factory, it's pollutive. How about some goats, and a local collective that makes handbags for rich Western women to feel good about themselves?'

I agree with PP. Zambians, Malawians, etc etc, don't care about climate change as much as they care about getting a car so their kids can go to school, or a fridge so they don't have to walk to the bloody market every single day for food that won't last in ambient temperatures. Fair play to 'em. They've lived too long under the West's tyranny of low expectations. If I was a working class Zambian, I'd take the factory job and the car any day over some USAID funded goats and a song from Bob Geldof. Wouldn't you?

Understood. So the Chinese have effectively developed a 21st century model of colonialism.

That's what many, many people call it, yes.

Me, I think humans are gonna human. It's like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, yes I know that got partially debunked years ago, but let's face it, any normal human is gonna choose the fridge, the school and the car over the goats and the basket weaving.

The fridge, school and car are more important than climate change, because climate change is something you start to seriously worry about only once privilege has removed from you the need to worry about more immediate threats, such as your empty belly, your uneducated children, or the fact that your house is made of mud and wood and you want a brick one. Only a very, very rich and privileged society would give someone like Greta Thunberg a platform. Most people have got more immediate struggles to conquer to worry about a crying Swedish girl. They've also got more immediate concerns than the esoteric subject of colonialism, too, because tbh if you need a proper road out of your village, you're gonna be happy if a bunch of people come in to fund and build one and who cares what colour or creed they are. As per the Roman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the British Empire etc etc and now the Chinese Empire.

That's not to say climate change isn't happening, that it isn't a threat, etc etc. I'm just saying, humans gonna human. We did. Why shouldn't they?

Brilliant @GiveMeSpanakopita . I agree.

So the Chinese have effectively developed a 21st century model of colonialism

They have indeed, @IdaGlossop, and I agree with much of what GiveMeSpanakopita says about this, but let's not imagine they're doing it out of altruistic motives

At least with the west's investment African countries can look forward to a hefty dose of self flagellation from their benefactors when things go wrong, but good luck expecting that with the Chinese regime when they've got what they wanted and it's all too late

@GiveMeSpanakopitai wish I was half as eloquent as you are, I so enjoy reading your posts.

Just to add a bit more color to the situation from my experience.

When funding a large project in Africa e.g. building a road, African governments can access western financing in the form of International Monetary Fund / World Bank loans or financing from the Chinese State.

IMF/WB financing comes with ESG...environmental, social and governance criteria that runs to pages and pages. Data collection is a headache in many African countries due to factors such as migration of nomadic households, civil strife leading to internal displacement and a variety of other issues. The social section includes women's rights and LGBTQ rights...a red flag to more conservative societies. It takes a long time to even submit the initial lending request requirements, and that's before a team from IMF/WB flies in to do the initial due diligence! Fun times with many more steps and submissions before the first debt tranche is disbursed.

Chinese lending does not have anywhere near the same level due diligence, and I never saw any ESG forms. The lending process is lightning speed from end to end versus IMF/WB. Moreover, Chinese lending requires the borrower to use Chinese companies as contractors. Often these Chinese contractors would bring in labour from China, thus the local population would not have employment or skill-building opportunities as sub-contractors or even general unskilled labour.

While African governments were delighted with China's softer lending criteria, many are rethinking their initial enthusiastic embrace of Beijing. As industrialized societies know, safety regulations are written in blood and ignoring environmental regulations has come with foreseeable consequences. In February 2025, a Chinese mining company spilled concentrated acid and poisoned the critical Kafue river that serves 60% of Zambia's population. Sections of the river died overnight and communities who have been there since time immemorial had to relocate to find potable water.

Zambian river died overnight

It is hard to think of the environment, but once people can't fetch water from the river to cook or bathe or get fish from said river, the environment suddenly becomes very very important indeed for politicians (and local chiefs) facing the wrath of a hungry and thirsty population.

An insightful post from the standpoint of solid experience, @My2cents1975

I'd ask what the Chinese regime were prepared to do to resolve the mess they'd visited on local people, but though happy to be corrected I suspect I already know the answer

Alas, all so true. It’s like when we wring our hands over deforestation in S America, “Oh, the rainforests!” And the response is, “Well, you trashed all your countryside and industrialised, and now you’re telling us we ‘re not allowed? Bugger that.”

Can it be done as a way of obscuring who really owns a property? Are H&M the sole owners? Do they own it all all?

I remember the ownership of the house H&M stayed in in Canada was very obscure. A Canadian investigative journalist eventually tracked it down - and I think it took years - through dead ends, shell companies and obscure trusts to Yuri Milner, a Russian billionaire, who is currently investing with Bezos in research labs.

I seem to remember that their Montecito mansion was also sold to them by Russian businessman Sergei Grishin who was involved in very dodgy financial dealings, criticised Putin and ended up dead at 56 in unclear circumstances.

I am detecting a pattern here .....

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