Spanish media speculate on whereabouts former King Juan Carlos

According to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Juan Carlos took a car to Portugal yesterday and flew to the Dominican Republic later in the day. Juan Carlos would now be with a family that has become rich with sugar cane plantations. He would like to use the next few weeks to see where he will finally settle.

Yesterday, the Spanish royal family published a letter from 82-year-old Juan Carlos, announcing that he is leaving Spain. The former King has been compromised by several scandals and under heavy pressure from his son, King Felipe, has decided to move elsewhere.

According to Spanish media, his wife, Queen Sofia, continues to live in the Zarzuelapaleis near Madrid. She is very much loved by the Spaniards, and is not associated with the affairs her husband became involved in.

Juan Carlos is suspected of being involved in a bribery affair. He would have played a role in the award of a tender for the high-speed line between Mecca and Medina. A group of Spanish contractors obtained the contract. Juan Carlos would have received millions from Saudi Arabia for his intervention in 2012; money deposited in a fund in his name. The king would have had the money flown in cash to Spain, without the knowledge of the IRS.

The Spanish justice department is conducting an investigation into the bribery affair. According to his lawyers, Juan Carlos is willing to cooperate fully in the investigation, even if he lives abroad.

Eight years ago, the then King was already compromised on a trip to Botswana. He went there to hunt elephants. Many Spaniards found it incomprehensible that he made a trip of tens of thousands of euros in difficult economic times and went hunting for an endangered species. The hunting trip would have been paid for by a Saudi businessman.

King Felipe has taken measures against his father because the scandals are in his way. For example, he immediately stopped the state’s annual payments to the former King. And Felipe already announced in March that he will not accept his father’s inheritance. There were also reports that the king would have his father removed from the residence palace in Madrid.