Besieged by allegations, investigations and scandals around his monetary arrangements, and weeks after being connected to an investigation into an alleged corruption that has damaged the already besieged Spanish monarchy extra, former King Juan Carlos has exiled abroad, the Royal Household. Confirmed.
The 82-year-old former monarch officially announced his resolution on Monday (August 3) in a letter to his son, King Philip, in whose name he abdicated the throne six years ago, adding that he would be available to prosecutors.
In Spain, the first reactions to the royal announcement were shared among those who deserve to have stayed the old king, who was a prominent figure in the transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, to face justice and who his presence in the country has become poisonous and shameful for the reign of his son.
“King Juan Carlos is abandoning Spain of its scandals”, titled the Spanish newspaper Vanguardia his main article.
“Juan Carlos I has left Spain,” the newspaper El País reported. King Emeritus has communicated to his son, Philip VI, his ‘reflective decision’ to move on to the ‘public repercussions’ of existing accounts in tax havens and to help the head of state to bring out his ‘quiet’ purposes demanded through the mail.”
Rumors abound about the destination selected through the former besieged monarch, and the most recent reports from the pro-monarchical Spanish newspaper ABC hit him in Abu Dhabi.
“The 82-year-old man boarded a jet Monday from Vigo in northwestern Spain with an assistant and four bodyguards, seven hours later the plane landed at a business airport in the CAPITAL of the United Arab Emirates,” the Local wrote.
La Vanguardia and ABC had written that Juan Carlos had first driven to Portugal on Monday morning, then “had flown from there to the Dominican Republic, where he plans to stay for a few weeks with a circle of relatives who made his fortune on sugarcane plantations”. . Fix first for a new destination, ” according to Reuters.
The Spanish Royal Palace has shown its location.
Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 after nearly 40 years as a popular king, following a corruption investigation involving his daughter, infanta Cristina, and her husband, Isaki Urduga (who is still in prison), and a questionable elephant hunt. Botswana while Spain suffers the worst monetary crisis.
“In recent years, revelations about his personal life and monetary affairs have tarnished what was once considered one of the European-style monarchies,” the Guardian says.
Accusations of irregularities have followed the former monarch for years, negatively affecting his son’s efforts, King Philip, to remove the monarchy from his father’s shadow.
In March, amid rumors of the former king’s finances and accusations of bribes similar to a high-speed exercise contract in Saudi Arabia, King Philip had reduced his father’s annual allocation to $228,000 and “renounced his father’s non-public inheritance after reports.” that he online to get millions of euros from a secret offshore fund connected to Saudi Arabia,” the Guardian wrote.
In the letter to his son, the besasured king wrote that “in the face of the public repercussions that I sure, beyond occasions in my personal life beget,” he took the decision to leave the royal palace and the country to Philip to “exercise his responsibilities.” “as king, with “quiet.”
“Guided by the conviction of serving the Spanish people, to their establishments and you as king, I tell you my resolve at this time to leave Spain”.
Juan Carlos added: “It’s a very moving decision, but I make it serenely.”
He was issued hours after the Emeritus King left the Palacio de la Zarzuela, where he had resided for 58 years, and supposedly after being already outside Spain, El País reported.
His wife, Queen Sofia, will be in Spain, living in the Palacio de la Zarzuela and “following her institutional work” at the Foundation that bears his name, Casa Real, @CasaReal, he said in a statement.
Following the letter of the former king, the Zarzuela also issued one from King Philip expressing “sincere respect and gratitude” to his father for his decision.
The announcement of exile comes 3 months after spain’s Supreme Court launched an investigation into the former king’s participation in a 6.7 billion euro agreement with Saudi Arabia to build a high-speed rail line between the Saudi cities of Medina and Mecca through a Spaniard. Consortium.
Spanish and Swiss anti-corruption officials are also investigating several accounts held in Switzerland through Juan Carlos and his alleged associates. “The research aims to outline or rule out the pernicious relevance of the occasions that occurred after June 2014, when Juan Carlos abdicated,” says The Guardian.
After his abdication in June 2014, Juan Carlos lost his immunity from prosecution. Recent reports from the British, Swiss and Spanish press put more pressure on the royal circle of relatives to interfere with the investigation.
“Swiss prosecutors’ documents show that the former king won a $100 million ‘donation’ from the king of Saudi Arabia, who put it into an offshore account in 2008. Four years later, he reportedly donated 65 million euros from the account to his account. . former lover, Corinna Larsen, ” adds The Guardian.
The Spanish government said that “justice is equivalent to all” and would “interfere” in the investigation.
To explain that the exmonarca’s departure “is not an attempt to evade the action of justice”, his lawyer, Javier Sánchez-Junco, has published a note saying that his consumer “remains to have the Public Prosecutor’s Office”. at all times for any formality or action deemed appropriate,” El País reported.
The former monarch will not lose the honorary name of king, which he granted by royal decree in June 2014, several days before his abdication.
“I am King of Spain for 40 years and for everything I have sought the most productive for Spain and for the Crown”, concludes the farewell letter from King Juan Carlos I to his son, Felipe VI.
“With my loyalty, as always. With my love, as always, your father.”
I am a freelance journalist from Colombo-Luxembourg, a determined traveller founded on the world’s only Grand Duchy. I’m writing a column on European affairs
I am a freelance journalist from Colombo-Luxembourg, a determined traveller founded on the world’s only Grand Duchy. I am writing a column on European affairs for the editorial page of El Tiempo, Colombia’s leading newspaper. I have been a Newsweek columnist and have written for, among others, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Toronto Globe-Mail.