Former Spanish king Juan Carlos spent many years doing many shady financial deals. He got kickbacks, he lobbied for despots, he cheated on his taxes and on and on. In 2020, six years after he abdicated the throne, Juan Carlos fled Spain and went to live in exile in the United Arab Emirates. He left behind his wife, the former Queen, and his mistress, who lives in Switzerland if memory serves. We haven’t heard much about his life in the UAE other than he was living for a time in a luxury hotel and he was in poor health. Then, back in January, we heard that his health is so poor right now, he actually wants to return to Spain so he can spend his final months/years in his homeland. The whole reason he exiled himself was because there was a criminal investigation into all of his shady deals, and he was likely just a few steps ahead of prosecution. So, this is curious?
Former King Juan Carlos I could be headed home to Spain after prosecutors dropped three investigations into his finances.
The royal initially fled the country in August 2020 amid allegations of money laundering and tax fraud, living in self-imposed exile ever since in a six-bedroom mansion on Zaya Nurai Island, an enclave off Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. But on Wednesday, Spain’s Public Prosecutor’s Office said that it had dropped all of the investigations into the king’s finances, citing insufficient evidence, statute of limitations, and immunity granted to him while serving as head of state. In December, another similar investigation into Juan Carlos in Geneva related to reported “aggravated money laundering” was dropped by Swiss authorities for similar reasons.
The Spanish statement read, per The Guardian, “The public prosecutor wishes to make it clear that, despite the investigation…no criminal action can be taken against His Majesty Juan Carlos de Borbón for the reasons outlined in the decree—basically the lack of incriminating evidence, the statute of limitations, the inviolability of the head of state, and tax regularization.” Along with that announcement, however, the Spanish prosecutor also emphasized that this does not mean the former king has been completely absolved.
Following this statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Carlos’s attorney Javier Sancho-Junco has reportedly flown to the UAE to speak in person with the former king about what he wants to do next. But Juan Carlos’s legal difficulties aren’t quite over yet. In December Sayn-Wittgenstein accused her ex-lover in London’s High Court of using Spain’s secret service to spy on her and her children after the end of their five-year relationship, seeking damages for “great mental pain.” But the royal’s lawyer argued in a preliminary hearing that he could potentially have immunity in this case as the only way he could have ordered the spy agency into action was to have been head of state at the time.
Basically, Swiss and Spanish authorities know that Juan Carlos did tons of shady, illegal and unethical financial sh-t, but they can’t prove all of it and even if they could, he would likely have immunity anyway. Which makes me wonder why they didn’t come to that conclusion back in 2020? Did they need another 17 months of investigations just to come to the conclusion that “yeah, he did a lot of bad stuff but oh well, YOLO”? Methinks that Juan Carlos is also a lot sicker than people realize and that many important and powerful people just cleared the way for Juan Carlos to return to Spain for his final days.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
- King Felipe VI of Spain, Queen Letizia of Spain, Former King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Former Queen Sofia of Spain attend the National Sports Awards at Royal Palace of el Pardo in Madrid. Madrid, Spain – Thursday January 10, 2019. USA, UK, AUS, NZ ONLY Photograph: © Alter Photos/PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com,Image: 535053298, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Alter Photos/PacificCoastNews / Alter Photos / Avalon
- King Felipe, Queen Letizia, King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Princess Leonor and Princess Sofia of Spain arrive at the La Seu Cathedral in Palma de Mallorca, on April 1, 2018, to attend the Eastern Mass Photo: Albert Nieboer / Netherlands OUT / Point De Vue Out – NO WIRE SERVICE · Photo: Albert Nieboer/RoyalPress/
- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN SPAIN ** Palma de Mallorca, SPAIN – Queen Letizia, Queen Sofia, King Felipe, King Juan Carlos, Princess Sofia and Princess Letizia attend Easter Mass held at the Palma de Mallorca cathedral in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Pictured: Queen Letizia, Queen Sofia, King Felipe, King Juan Carlos, Princess Sofia and Princess Letizia BACKGRID USA 1 APRIL 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN SPAIN ** Madrid, SPAIN – Princess Elena of Spain and King Juan Carlos attends La Beneficiencia Bullfight at Las Ventas Bullring. Pictured: King Juan Carlos BACKGRID USA 6 JUNE 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, CANADA ** Madrid, SPAIN – King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia inaugurate the ‘Democracy 1978-2018’ exhibition at Caixa Forum in Madrid, Spain. Pictured: King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia BACKGRID USA 4 DECEMBER 2018 BYLINE MUST READ: Lagencia Grosby / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- Palma, SPAIN – **FILE PHOTOS** Former Spanish King Juan Carlos leaves Spain. The Spanish Royal Household has announced that Emeritus King Juan Carlos has proclaimed his intended decision to move abroad so as to not interfere the image of the Spanish monarchy due to his alleged implication in a Swiss offshore account investigation. Pictured: Former Spanish King Juan Carlos BACKGRID USA 4 AUGUST 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
ITA that this was dropped because he must be in his final days. And if the prosecution runs a good chance of being hobbled, and he’s not around to get a guilty verdict anyway, it’s probably easier to focus on eventual accomplices, etc.
But at least he cannot have the grand state funeral as before – they caught him, the self exile was quite an admission of guilt, the prosecution did its job even if the final verdict is not official.
Yep, seems like a fix. All of the reasons they dropped the prosecutions are major things they must have taken into account when they’ve decided to start prosecuting, surely?
Well, if Prince Andrew can weasel out, why not King Carlos?
The wealthy never get the punishment a working person would.
The fix is in, is correct!
See also Trump!
The man incited riots and committed treason but still outside living his fat cat life.
So I study the Spanish gossip industry as an academic, and my theory is that the prosecutor’s office needed to stall for time to ensure that anti-monarchical sentiment didn’t explode in 2020. The info about Juan Carlos’ secret bank account (and Felipe’s rejection of himself as a trustee of that account) came out basically at the same time that COVID-19 was absolutely ravaging the country. If the prosecutors had made these judgments in 2020, I think there’d have been a lot more people in the streets calling for the end of the monarchy.
You have an amazing job.
When King Juan Carlos abdicated in favor of his son, one of the requirements was that he was given immunity. So he knew he will never be prosecuted for this or other crime. But when this particular case was public, King Felipe was going to exile him so he did it before to avoid a confrontation with the new king. Remember that King Felipe’s brother in law was convicted and that he had to take the Dupque de Palma title from his and his sister. So King Juan Carlos was told to exile before his son had to take similar measures. Today I think his health must be pretty weak to have decided to drop charges. Anyhow I don’t think King Felipe will let his father fool Spain with a bogus sick claim.
I don’t think this necessarily means that he’s dying, it may be that he’s finally accepted he’s not coming back. But he was never going to be prosecuted. In his position as king he was untouchable according to the Spanish Constitution, and there is no way that the main political parties would open that Pandora’s box.
He’s trash just like all his family. He cozied up to a dictator and then made whatever deal necessary to keep himself as king when Franco died. Sadly we’re stuck with them for now.
Ugh, don’t gives heads of state immunity.