Panama links to besotted, corrupt ex- monarch

The scandals surrounding King Emeritus Juan Carlos I  of  Spain now undercover in the United Arab Emirates have dragged  Panama’s shadowy  financial dealings back into the world headlines which it once filled with the Panama Papers,

The situation tarnishes the role he played in Spain’s transition to democracy, after the dictatorship of General Franco and represents a deep wound for the monarchy, in the eyes of its citizens.

On August 3, the Spanish Royal Family  guardedly  announced his decision to move away  from the country  due to the backlash  “certain past events”

With his self-imposed exile, the 82-year-old ex-monarch informed the Royal Household that he was

leaving the country to ” help facilitate the exercise of the functions ” of his son, King Felipe VI.

But his hide  and  exit set off alarms  and it took weeks of guesswork trying to figure out

his whereabouts with Portugal,  the Dominican Republic, and Abu Dhabi, among the destinations cited until on August 17 the United Arab Emirates was as the bolt hole of the now-disgraced ex-king

A publication of the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve records that a special prosecutor in Geneva is investigating alleged commissions of more than 6.7 billion euros in the award to a consortium of Spanish companies of a high-speed line Medina-Mecca (Saudi Arabia ).

The newspaper also cited that one of the donations of $100 million, from King Abdul Al Saud, went to an account of the Swiss bank Mirabaud, belonging to a Panamanian Foundation named Lucum, whose sole beneficiary would be the king emeritus  and was  created to funnel money to Switzerland

The Swiss prosecutor’s office is also investigating the purchase in 2015 of a mansion in the United Kingdom, by Corinna Larsen, the ex-lover of Juan Carlos I, three years after receiving 65 million euros from the king emeritus, according to European media.

Larsen is a Danish-born business consultant who told prosecutors in Geneva that she paid $7.8 million dollars for the Chyknell Hall Estate, near Bridgnorth, west of England and that she spent a similar amount on the renovation of the residence.

The mansion appears under the name of Jade Trust, a Panamanian foundation whose beneficiary is Larsen’s  13-years-old son.

Since 2018, Larsen has been under investigation for alleged money laundering, according to El País.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor in Geneva is investigating the acquisition of the mansion and the “opaque Panama  structure” used in the operation, after receiving the gift from the ex-monarch

The mansion with 11 bedrooms, a library, swimming pool and cricket ground sits on an 81-hectare estate.