According to recent enquiries, Juan Carlos I, former king of Spain and father of current king, set up a network of opaque financial structures, relying on Swiss banks and intermediaries in order to finance a lifestyle unparalleled among other European heads of state.

This information has been revealed thanks to the remarkable investigative work of the Swiss media and other international media outlets. According to the information published in the press, the funds were held in large part by the Zagatka foundation, officially registered in Vaduz (Lichtenstein) but created in Geneva in 2003 through a Geneva company which is already implicated in corruption and money-laundering scandals in relation to Spain. Juan Carlos I was thus one of the beneficiaries of assets worth about 10 million US dollars, which he used in particular to finance flights in private jets at 9,800 euros per hour for himself and his circle.

The former king also had recourse to the Lucum foundation. Officially registered in Panama, this structure held an account with the Mirabaud bank in Geneva in 2008. The then king of Spain appears to have been the sole financial beneficiary of this bank account.

In particular, this foundation would appear to have been used by Mr. Borbón y Borbón to bank the sum of around 100 million US dollars, officially a “gift” from king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the foundation's account also seems to have received the sum of 1.9 million US dollars in 2010, as a so-called “donation” by the king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al Jalifa.

These facts have led to the initiation of criminal proceedings by the Geneva public prosecutor's office, specifically for “suspected aggravated money laundering” involving several figures close to Mr. Borbón y Borbón and other people implicated in the creation of these structures, the purpose of which clearly seems to be to conceal the existence and source of these funds.

Corruption proceedings have also been initiated in Spain at the National High Court, on suspicion that the 100 million US dollars received by the former monarch were in payment of a commission for his intervention in the award of a contract to build a railway network in Saudi Arabia. The legal authorities of Spain and Geneva seem to be actively cooperating and mutual legal assistance proceedings are underway at the Swiss Federal Office of Justice.

Nevertheless, even if it has been established thanks to investigative journalism and the outstanding work of the Geneva public prosecutor's office that Mr. Borbón y Borbón was the beneficiary of at least two foundations, all the indications are that he might dispose of other financial assets concealed in banks in Switzerland.

Furthermore, following regular scandals and public pressure, the former king of Spain abdicated in June 2014. In 2019 he publicly announced his withdrawal from all institutional activities. In March 2020 king Philip VI recognised that he had been aware of Juan Carlos de Borbón's opaque transactions for over a year, though he had chosen to conceal this information from public opinion. In the same statement, Philip VI ordered that all public finance be withdrawn from his father, the former king of Spain. In the most recent news, the former king was apparently preparing to leave Spanish territory to settle in the Dominican Republic. It is therefore clear that the former king has finally lost all power.

There being a notoriously high degree of corruption, the last GRECO report, published in 2019, confirmed this in the following terms:

“Corruption is currently an issue in Spain, with high-profile cases shaking the key institutions of the state. A legal decision concerning corruption [revealing the generalised nature of the practice of corruption within the party with a parliamentary majority at the time] was then invoked by members of parliament in a vote of censure which, for the first time in the history of Spanish democracy, caused the fall of the government in June 2018”.

Added to this are the sentencing of the sister of the current king of Spain, Ms. Cristina de Borbón y Grecia, to pay a 136,000-euro fine, as well as her husband being sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison for embezzlement of public funds, tax fraud and influence trafficking.

The degree of corruption in Spain is notoriously high, especially in the entourage of the royal family.

With regard to the origin of the assets of which Mr. Borbón y Borbón presumably disposed or of which he was presumably the beneficiary, the explanations given by his circle to the legal authorities are far from convincing. Among others, the example of the funds of the Zagatka foundation. When the first account was opened in 2003 with Crédit Suisse, it was apparently stated that the money came from a commission paid for establishing contacts between those involved in the sale of Banco Zaragozano to Barclays Bank in London. When the funds were transferred to Lombard Odier in 2015, it was claimed that the assets originated in “family inheritances” and businesses owned by the former king's cousin. The use of opaque structures located in tax havens to hold the massive sums acquired by the former king and his circle, in the absence of credible, conventional evidence of their origin, and the fact that their financial beneficiary held the position of head of state, raise strong suspicions that these assets may have been acquired by the former monarch by using his official position for personal gain.

It is therefore highly likely that the funds concealed in Switzerland by Mr. Borbón y Borbón were acquired through corrupt means..

At this time of acute economic and social crisis, it is in the interest of all citizens for every effort to be made to put an end to the rampant corruption within the Spanish royal family. If you think that this murky businesses of the Spanish Monarchy can’t go unpunished, SIGN THIS PETITION