Spain’s former king faces tax fraud allegations

The financial affairs of the scandal-plagued former king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, have come under scrutiny again, after a lawsuit was filed against him for alleged tax crimes.
In 2020 and 2021, Juan Carlos made two payments to the Spanish treasury, totalling about €5 million, to clear tax arrears. One payment was linked to his use of credit cards belonging to a Mexican tycoon, Allen Sanguinés-Krause, and the other to money received from a foundation belonging to the former king’s cousin, Álvaro de Orleans.
Juan Carlos (86) abdicated in 2014, with his son Felipe succeeding him to the throne.
The payments he made led to the supreme court halting an investigation into his finances. However, a group of complainants, who include retired senior judges and prosecutors, has now presented a lawsuit before the same tribunal calling for the case against Juan Carlos to be reopened, alleging that the former king committed five crimes between 2014 and 2018. They say that although the payments he made to the tax office were declared as voluntary, they should not have led to the closure of the inquiry because he had already been informed that he was under investigation.
“In order for the regularisation [payment] to have a decriminalising effect, it has to take place before the tax office begins the process of notification,” said the complainants, who also include several well-known journalists, jurists and philosophers, in a statement.
They also said the arguments used by the supreme court when it shelved the case “lack legal substance and totally contradict” the data which was available. The complainants state that the crimes of which they accuse Juan Carlos can lead to a prison sentence of between two and six years, as well as a fine proportionate to the amount defrauded.
The former monarch’s abdication was prompted by both his frail health and speculation about his private life, after it was revealed that he had been on an elephant-hunting holiday with a Danish-German woman, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn.
In 2020 he moved to the United Arab Emirates amid several scandals linked to his financial affairs. Among them was the fact he had given €65 million to Ms Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, leading to an investigation into the money’s provenance. Another investigation looked into an offshore bank account held by Juan Carlos in Jersey.
Those cases were also shelved, prompting speculation that he might return home. However, although Juan Carlos has visited Spain on several occasions, visiting doctors and taking part in sailing regattas, he has continued to live in Abu Dhabi. In 2022, he was seen alongside his son King Felipe in public for the first time since leaving Spain when they both attended the state funeral of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.