MADRID Spain’s former King Juan Carlos was dogged by reports he was linked to corrupt dealings, including international transfers of tens of millions of dollars, before he left the country to try to relieve the pressure on the reign of his son King Felipe.
Juan Carlos is not formally under investigation and has repeatedly declined to comment on the allegations. He has been staying in the United Arab Emirates since Aug 3.
$100 MILLION FROM SAUDI?
The newspaper La Tribune de Geneve reported that Juan Carlos received $100 million from the late Saudi King Abdullah, and sent 65 million euros of it to Danish-born businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, with whom he had a close relationship.
News site El Confidencial has published documents purporting to show the Saudi money in an account with Swiss bank Mirabaud, held by a Panamanian company called Lucum, of which Juan Carlos was the beneficial owner and his successor, King Felipe, a named director.
The site published receipts showing regular cash withdrawals of hundreds of thousands of euros, signed by Juan Carlos.
A Swiss prosecutor’s office is investigating a bank transfer to zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. She says the money was a gift. Her lawyer has said she was “dragged into Swiss proceedings in relation to events in which she was not involved”.
SPANISH INVESTIGATION
In June, Spain’s Supreme Court opened an investigation into whether any potentially illegal activity involving Juan Carlos and relating to a high-speed desert train project in Saudi Arabia took place after Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014.
The former king is immune to prosecution over events that happened during his reign.
OFFSHORE FUNDS
King Felipe announced on March 15 this year that he was renouncing his inheritance from his father. At the time, he said he had learned last year that he was the beneficiary of an offshore fund, Lucum, and had told his father he would not accept any benefit from it.
Felipe is also named on documents reviewed by Reuters as a potential beneficiary of a second fund, Zagatka. He has said he was not aware of that fund, but if he turned out to be a beneficiary, he would renounce that too.
Juan Carlos has said he never gave Felipe any information about the two funds.
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