ARCHIVED - Former King of Spain completes a year of exile in the UAE

Juan Carlos I hopes to return to Madrid but tax investigations make it unwise for him to do so

This weekend marked the anniversary of the departure of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where he has been living in exile ever since while the Spanish tax authorities investigate alleged irregularities in his financial activities.

The 83-year-old father of current monarch Felipe VI abdicated and handed over to his son in 2014 and since then the monarchy has been shaken by a series of revelations about his personal financial dealings, many of them relating to a sizeable fortune accumulated in Switzerland and connected to the awarding of a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia.

As King, Juan Carlos was immune to prosecution during his reign but in 2018 recordings of his former mistress Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein speaking with a former police chief were leaked to the press, claiming that he received “kick-backs” from commercial contracts in the Gulf States. Among these contracts was the one for the construction of the 6.7-billion-euro Haramain high-speed railway in Saudi Arabia, and his “commission” was paid into a bank account in Switzerland.

In June 2020, the public prosecutor's office of the Spanish Supreme Court announced that it would pursue an investigation against Juan Carlos pertaining to his role as facilitator in Phase II of the high-speed railway connecting Mecca and Medina, and his decision to leave the country came a couple of months later.

It is now reported that he intends to return to live in the Palacio de la Zarzuela, where he resided for 57 years, but the slow progress of investigations into his affairs continues to make an imminent return to Spain unlikely. In the year since he went into exile he has made two payments to Hacienda, one of 678,000 euros and the other of 4.4 million euros, related to previously undeclared income, and although some sources conclude that prosecution is not probable the situation remains unresolved.

Meanwhile, Juan Carlos continues to live in Abu Dhabi with four bodyguards and three personal assistants, and when he opted not to come to Spain at Christmas the reason given was ill health: he has undergone surgery 17 times in recent years for a variety of injuries and medical conditions. He has received visits from his daughters Elena and Cristina, but it appears that relations with Felipe are strained in the current circumstances.

The Spanish government has stated that as he currently faces no charges, the former King may visit Spain as and when he wishes, but for the time being at least it seems that he will continue to observe the country where he reigned for 39 years from a distance.

Image: Casa Real