Spain shelves all three of its financial investigations into former king Juan Carlos which prompted him to flee the country in 2020
- Juan Carlos, 83, abdicated in 2014 after several probes into his financial dealings
- His son King Felipe VI, 53, took over and Juan has been living in Abu Dhabi since
- Spain’s prosecutor said ‘criminal action’ will not be take against the former king
- Swiss investigators also dropped their probe into alleged money laundering
Spain has shelved all three of its financial investigations into former king Juan Carlos which prompted him to flee the country in 2020.
Juan Carlos, 83, who abdicated in 2014 in favour of his son Felipe VI, 53, has been living in Abu Dhabi since summer 2020 after becoming the target of several probes in Spain over his financial dealings.
The Spanish national prosecutor’s office said: ‘The investigation.. does not, in the Prosecutor’s opinion, allow for any criminal action to be brought against His Majesty Juan Carlos.’
Following the investigation, Spain recovered €5.1 million (£4.24 million) in fines and taxes for income that Juan Carlos had failed to declare to Spain’s tax authorities, the prosecutors said in their conclusions.
A separate investigation by Swiss prosecutors had already been dropped into allegations that the 83-year-old laundered money.
Spain has shelved all three of its financial investigations into former king Juan Carlos which prompted him to flee the country in 2020.
Juan Carlos had been hailed as a key figure that allowed the transition to democracy in Spain after fascist dictator Francisco Franco’s death in 1975.
The Spanish prosecutors also said they could not find a link between a payment received by the former king and a Saudi Arabian company receiving a contract.
The probes have especially been focused on whether there was any illegal dealings after the former king abdicated in 2004 and lost his immunity from prosecution.
It has tainted his reputation and that of the monarchy, and though Juan Carlos has reportedly wished to return home, many Spanish citizens are said not to welcome the move.
Swiss prosecutors also dropped their investgations into allegations that the 83-year-old laundered money
The Geneva prosecutors had said that the complexity of his transactions, using a foundation and various companies, ‘showed a will to dissimulation’, but said there was not enough evidence to proceed.
A Spanish consortium was awarded a lucrative contract in 2011 to build the high-speed rail link between Medina and Mecca and a $100 million was said to be desposited by Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah in 2008 into a Swiss bank account to which Juan Carlos had access.
The Geneva prosecutors said their investigation had established that the money had indeed been deposited into an account with Geneva bank Mirabaud & Cie belonging to the Lucum foundation, for which Juan Carlos held the economic rights.
They also determined that there was evidence the ex-king transferred the bulk of this money in 2012 to an account in the Bahamas belonging to a company held by his former mistress, German businesswoman Corinna Zu Zein-Wittgenstein.
Juan Carlos abdicated in favor of his son Felipe VI in 2014 following a series of scandals in the royal family. Since becoming king, Felipe has tried to distance himself from his father and rebuild the Spanish crown’s image.
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