Arun District Council has millions invested with Qatar National Bank as football World Cup starts

Qatar has recently come under the spotlight in the run-up to the Fifa World Cup, which is due to start in the Middle East country this weekend.

The host has been criticised for its treatment of migrant workers and its human rights record and it is currently illegal to be gay in the country.

A recent Freedom of Information request by The Guardian found that 28 of the 338 UK councils which responded had deposited more than £1 billion of taxpayers’ money into accounts at Qatar National Bank (QNB).

Arun District Council was among the top four investors, depositing around £90 million over the last five years.

In February, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that ADC had invested £9 million pounds with the partly state-owned bank during 2021.

Six separate deposits were made, with all of them issued between April 1 and August 3 2021.

At the time, a senior council accountant said ADC would ‘not be adding any new investments with Qatar National Bank’ as its rating was expected to decline.

However, when asked recently if the council would continue to invest with the bank or make new investments in future, a spokesperson said: “The council has not made any new investments with QNB since October 2022.

“At this point in time, we have decided not to place further investments with Qatar.”

The spokesperson confirmed that the council currently holds £7 million worth of investments with QNB.