The noose loosens around Juan Carlos. Swiss justice announced, Monday, December 13, the classification of the investigation carried out for three years against the former Spanish monarch, relating to the 100 million dollars that he received in 2008 from Saudi Arabia on an account of the Mirabaud bank. Failing to be able to demonstrate the illegal origin of the sum -, a simple “gift” according to the relatives of the emeritus king -, and to establish a link with the contract of the “desert train”, – the construction of a line high speed between Medina and Mecca, obtained by a Spanish consortium – the case is closed.
The Geneva public prosecutor’s office, however, mentioned in a press release “A desire for concealment”. “The amounts concerned, the origin of the assets, the absence of adequate documentation justifying the transfers, the alleged successive donations (…) as well as the chronology of the events constituted clues charged to the defendants ”, recalled the prosecution.
At no time, Juan Carlos, who moved to Abu Dhabi in August 2020, – driven into exile by his son, Felipe VI, eager to protect himself from the possible fallout of these scandals – was called to testify by Swiss justice.
Three judicial inquiries are still underway in Spain concerning the fortune of the 83-year-old monarch. However, according to the Spanish press, they could also be classified without follow-up. The investigation of alleged commissions linked to the “desert train” comes up against the inviolability enjoyed by Juan Carlos until his abdication in 2014. The voluntary tax regularization carried out by Juan Carlos between December 2020 and February 2021, with the payment of more than 4 million euros to the public treasury should end the investigation into donations not declared to the Spanish tax authorities.
Complaint for “harassment”
As for the proceedings against his former mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, for an alleged money laundering offense, linked to transfers received from several Gulf countries, they have also been lifted. She welcomed this while recalling that “lAs for those responsible, they have not been investigated and given time to cover up their activities ”. In 2012, in the midst of a media storm linked to the elephant hunting trip in Botswana in which Juan Carlos had secretly participated, she had received from the former King of Spain nearly 65 million euros in an account with Bahamas.
Juan Carlos, has told relatives of his wish to return to Spain, although relations with his family, including his son, are severed. Before that, he will no doubt wait for the outcome of the latest proceedings against him in the United Kingdom, after the complaint for “harassment” filed in London by his former lover. Before, possibly looking at the merits of the case, the British justice will have to decide in the coming weeks whether Juan Carlos still enjoys or not his immunity as Head of State. In which case, the case would also be closed.
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