A spokesperson from the United Arab Emirates’ royal palace on Monday confirmed that Spain’s former King Juan Carlos I, who fled the country earlier this month after a wave of scandal allegations, has been in the Gulf state since 3 August. Speculations about the 82-year-old royal’s whereabouts in Spanish media have placed him in Portugal, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the Dominican Republic, since he did not divulge where he would be going when he announced his departure from his home country.
While Juan Carlos is not under any formal investigation, he has consistently declined to comment on any of the allegations being made against him of corrupt dealings. He has been accused of receiving $100 million from late Saudi King Abdullah, from which he sent €65 million to his close friend and alleged mistress, Danish businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. News portal El Confidencial also published declassified documents including receipts of cash withdrawals that linked the Saudi money with a Swiss bank account linked to a Panamanian company beneficially owned by Juan Carlos. Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn’s lawyer has said that the money was a gift, and that she is being “dragged into Swiss proceedings in relation to events in which she was not involved”. Juan Carlos was also linked to the revelatory Panama Papers leak in 2016.
While Juan Carlos has immunity to prosecution regarding events that occurred under his reign, the Spanish Supreme Court in June opened an investigation his potential illegal involvement in a Saudi high-speed desert train project that was initiated after he abdicated his position in 2014. The contract for the 450 km rail link between Mecca and Medina was awarded to a consortium of Spanish firms in 2011, from which Juan Carlos “received kickbacks”. The project was inaugurated in 2018.
Juan Carlos has held warm ties with the monarchies of the Gulf since his ascendence to the throne in 1975. For decades, the monarch was a popular figure who played a crucial role in pushing democratic reforms in the country after ending the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco. After renouncing the throne in 2014, Juan Carlos’ son King Felipe VI took up the reins.
Felipe announced in March that he would be renouncing his inheritance from Juan Carlos after learning that he was named as a beneficiary of an offshore fund. He also halted his father’s annual allowance of €200,000 after more details of his shady fiscal dealings were unearthed. Felipe has taken considerable steps to reform the image of the monarchy, including the introduction of a code of conduct for royals. It is believed that Juan Carlos fled to the UAE to relieve Felipe from public pressure.