2020 Saudi
rail deal
The construction of a high-speed railway in Saudi Arabia was allegedly coordinated with kick-backs to Juan Carlos during the late-2000s.
Recordings
of the former King's alleged mistress Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
speaking with a former police chief were leaked to the press in mid-2018.
Sayn-Wittgenstein claimed that Juan Carlos received kick-backs from commercial
contracts in the Gulf States – particularly in the late-2000s construction of
the €6.7 billion (US$6 billion) Haramain high-speed railway in Saudi Arabia –
and maintained these proceeds in a bank account in Switzerland. She alleged
that he purchased properties in Monaco under her name to circumvent the tax
treatment of lawful residents, stating "[not] because he [loved] me a lot,
but because I reside in Monaco." She further claimed the head of the
Spanish intelligence service warned her that her life, and those of her
children, would be at risk if she spoke of their association. The allegations
drew demands for Juan Carlos to be investigated for corruption in early June
2019.
Swiss
authorities began investigating Juan Carlos in March 2020 in relation to a $100
million donation given to Sayn-Wittgenstein in 2012. This donation was linked
to alleged kick-back fees from Saudi Arabia. Sayn-Wittgenstein reportedly told
the head Swiss prosecutor on 19 December 2018 that Juan Carlos had gifted her
€65 million out of "gratitude and love", to guarantee her future and
her children's, because "he still had hopes to win her back". On 14
March 2020, The Telegraph reported that his son Felipe, King of Spain since
2014, appeared as second beneficiary (after Juan Carlos) of the Lucum
Foundation, the entity on the receiving end of a €65 million donation by
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, King of Saudi Arabia. On 15 March 2020, the Royal
Household issued a statement declaring that Felipe VI would renounce any
inheritance from his father. Additionally, the statement announced that the
former king would lose his public stipend from the State's General Budget.
In June
2020, the public prosecutor's office of the Spanish Supreme Court accepted to
pursue investigation against Juan Carlos pertaining his role as facilitator in
the Phase II of the high speed rail connecting Mecca and Medina, intending to
delimitate the criminal relevance of the facts that took place after his
abdication in June 2014. As King of Spain, Juan Carlos was immune from
prosecution from 1975 to 2014 via crown immunity.
Exile
On 3 August
2020, the Palace of Zarzuela announced Juan Carlos wished to relocate from
Spain because of increased media press about his business dealings in Saudi
Arabia and left a letter to his son saying so. By the time the letter had been
made public, he had already left the country. Journalists speculated that he
might have fled to the Dominican Republic, Portugal, France, and Italy, and,
later, as of 7 August, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. The Royal Household
initially declined requests to publicly disclose Juan Carlos's location; on 17
August, the Royal House confirmed that, since 3 August, Juan Carlos was in the
United Arab Emirates, where he arrived by taking a private plane in the Airport
of Vigo.
Na imagem partilhada por Corinna Larsen, Juan Carlos surge de calções, camisa de manga curta e boné, enquanto cozinha na quinta de La Angorrilla, perto de Madrid, ao lado do filho da então amante.
Ex-amante de Juan Carlos diz que afastamento do rei
emérito foi um "golpe" combinado pela família com Mariano Rajoy
JORNAL I
20/09/2020 11:02
Ex-amante diz ainda que afastamento do rei Juan Carlos
foi um "golpe" combinado pela família com Mariano Rajoy.
Corinna Larsen,
ex-amante do rei Juan Carlos, revelou, numa entrevista à revista francesa Paris
Match, vários detalhes dos anos que passou com o antigo chefe de Estado
espanhol, incluindo uma fotografia que mostra a intimidade que ambos mantinham.
Na imagem
partilhada por Corinna Larsen, Juan Carlos surge de calções, camisa de manga
curta e boné, enquanto cozinha na quinta de La Angorrilla, perto de Madrid, ao
lado do filho da então amante. De realçar, que a empresária alega que o
casamento de Juan Carlos e Sofia aconteceu apenas por motivos políticos e que
estes vivem praticamente separados há mais de 30 anos.
Na mesma
entrevista, Corinna Larsen disse ainda que o rei emérito foi vítima de um
"golpe" interno para fazê-lo abdicar e que a ideia surgiu entre
membros da família real espanhola com o apoio de Mariano Rajoy, antigo chefe de
Governo espanhol, que queria enfraquecer a monarquia.
"Tenho duas
frentes contra mim. A primeira é composta pela minha mulher e seus tenentes:
ela tem pressa em colocar o filho no trono porque tem muito mais influência
sobre ele do que sobre mim. A segunda é encarnada por Mariano Rajoy, cujo
objetivo é castrar-me e enfraquecer a monarquia", terá confessado Juan
Carlos a Corinna.
A alemã criticou
ainda a decisão de afastar Juan Carlos de Espanha numa altura crítica para a
sua saúde. "Durante uma crise desta envergadura, a família real deveria
permanecer unida. Enviar um antigo rei, de saúde frágil, para o exílio, e em
plena covid, é irresponsável. Toda a família real beneficia do estilo de vida
que lhe foi assegurado por Juan Carlos. Rejeitá-lo dessa forma parece-me um
pouco desleal e é uma falta de dignidade. O que deveriam fazer era reformar as
instituições, torná-las mais transparentes", considerou.
Exclusive:
Corinna, the ex-mistress of Juan
Carlos of Spain denounces a
coup d'etat
Paris Match
Published on 16/09/2020 at 5:51 PM Updated on 09/16/2020 at 7:50 p.m.
The Writing
Convened by the
Spanish courts, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein is now suspected of having helped
the deposed King Juan Carlos of Spain to launder secret commissions. Her former
lover tells Paris Match exclusively about her truth.
Former monarch
Juan Carlos of Spain is suspected of hiding $100 million in 2008 from an
account of the Lucum Foundation in Switzerland. That same year, the same
foundation paid $65 million into Corinna's account. A kind of gift, for her and
her son for whom the king had affection. She then appears as an ambitious,
manipulative woman, far from the image she wanted to give after the revelation
of their affair in 2012. Surprised by
the donation at the time, Corinna said she did not question the source of the
funds. "I had no reason to question a head of state," she says. The
revelations that followed were manipulated, used sensationally, to create a
gigantic controversy. All this is motivated by a political agenda. »
According to the
Swiss prosecutor in charge of the case, Yves Bertosa, this sum came not from a
"gift" from the former ruler of Saudi Arabia, as Juan Carlos
explains, but from illegal commissions paid on the sidelines of the contract to
build the High-Speed Train Medina-Mecca, signed in 2011. In Switzerland, an
investigation has been opened against Corinna for "suspicion and
aggravated money laundering." But according to an expert on the royal
household, it could shake the monarchy "If it falls, it will not fall alone,"
she says. As the Spanish justice system seeks to hear it, Juan Carlos' former
mistress has received us in London.
Extracts:
To the question,
do you confirm that Juan Carlos of Spain asked your father for your hand? She
replies: "At the end of 2008, he went to see him in Berlin before offering
me, in early 2009, a beautiful engagement ring. I took it as a sign of
seriousness in our relationship, but I knew that commitment would not
materialize. »
Regarding the
king's fears about what she calls an "internal coup d'etat": "He
was very explicit in confiding me: "I have two fronts in front of me. The
first is made up of my wife and her lieutenants: she is in a hurry to put her
son on the throne, because she has much more influence on him than on me. The
second is embodied by Mariano Rajoy [Prime Minister from 2011 to 2018], who
aims to castrate me and weaken the monarchy.""
On what she
thinks of Juan Carlos's choice of exile in the United Arab Emirates:
"During a crisis of this magnitude, the royal family should have remained
united. Sending the frail ex-king into exile in the middle of Covid is
irresponsible."
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