Juan Carlos I, the emeritus king of Spain, announced this Monday that he will maintain his residence in Abu Dhabi despite the fact that the judicial investigations into him were filed, which in 2020 led him to go to the United Arab Emirates.
“I prefer, at this time, for reasons that belong to my private sphere and that only affect me, to continue residing permanently and stable in Abu Dhabi,” the former monarch told his son, the current King Felipe VI, in a letter made public by the Royal House.
“Knowing the Decrees of the State Attorney General’s Office, by which the investigations to which I have been the subject are archived, it seems appropriate to consider my return to Spain, although not immediately,” added the former monarch, five days after the publication. of these court decisions.
In Abu Dhabi “I have found tranquility, especially for this period of my life,” said the 84-year-old former king, stating that “naturally, I will return to Spain frequently.”
Juan Carlos went into exile in the capital of the United Arab Emirates in August 2020 amid suspicions of embezzlement and to “facilitate” the exercise of his son’s functions, he said in his letter.
He was the subject of three judicial investigations in Spain, all of them shelved, because they did not allow “any criminal action to be taken against Juan Carlos de Borbón,” the prosecutor’s office said on March 2.
The prosecution alleged that it found “different reasons” to file the investigations: “insufficiency of incriminating evidence, the prescription of the crime, the inviolability of the Head of State (while he was king) or the fiscal regularization” carried out by Juan Carlos.
The decision to file the case, which comes after a similar decision in December by the Swiss justice, paved the way for a possible return to Spain of the former sovereign.
“I am aware of the importance for public opinion of the past events of my private life and that I sincerely regret,” the emeritus added in the letter.
– Saudi ‘gift’ –
The most important of the three open investigations sought to determine whether Juan Carlos I had charged commissions for the award to two Spanish companies of a contract for the construction of a high-speed train between Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia in 2011.
A transfer in 2008 of 100 million dollars by the king of Saudi Arabia to a Swiss account of which Juan Carlos was the beneficiary was at the center of this first investigation.
But the prosecution concluded that it was “a gift” received by Juan Carlos, which could have involved a crime of “bribery”, but that in any case has already prescribed.
The bulk of the money was transferred in 2012 to the Danish-born business consultant Corinna Larsen, Juan Carlos’ lover between 2004 and 2009.
The other investigations referred to the possible use of the king emeritus of credit cards linked to bank accounts in the name of a Mexican businessman and an Air Force colonel, while the last one sought information about a possible trust linked to Juan Carlos on the island. Jersey, considered a tax haven.
