Tags: Spain | Former King

Former King Pays 4.4 Million Euros to Spanish Tax Agency

Friday, 26 February 2021 08:00 AM EST

MADRID (AP) — A law firm representing Juan Carlos I says that the former Spanish monarch has paid close to 4.4 million euros ($5.33 million) to the country's tax authorities in his latest attempt to regularize past undeclared income.

The 83-year-old former king, who has been living abroad for more than half a year after media revealed fresh allegations of financial misdoings, already filed for settlement for another tax debt in December for covert donations made to him between 2016 and 2018. That resulted in the payment of more than 678,000 euros including interest and a fine.

Juan Carlos' lawyer, Javier Sánchez-Junco, said in a statement Friday that the latest tax debt relates to the payments that a private foundation, Zagatka, made on behalf of the former king for “several travel expenses and other services."

The Liechtenstein-based foundation is owned by Álvaro de Orleans, a businessman and distant cousin of Juan Carlos who has publicly admitted having funded some of the former monarch's private expenses. Payments-in-kind are subject to taxes under Spanish law.

Leading Spanish newspaper El País and online news website El Español, which first reported the new tax settlement, said that the foundation paid for flights with a private jet company for more than a decade up to 2018.

The lawyer's statement said that the payment of overdue taxes plus interests and “surcharges” was voluntary and that tax authorities had not asked for it. The former monarch's tax obligations “have been regularized," it said. Under Spanish law, confessing to undeclared income and paying the outstanding taxes allows offenders to avoid being charged with a crime.

The former king is the target of official investigations in Spain and Switzerland for possible financial wrongdoing. One of them involves possible payments over a high-speed railway contract in Saudi Arabia.

Those investigations prompted him to leave Spain in August for the United Arab Emirates. He has been photographed there in a luxurious hotel where Spanish media say he's living as a guest of Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed.

The Royal Palace declined to comment on the new developments. King Felipe VI, who rose to the Spanish throne after Juan Carlos’ abdication in 2014, has distanced himself from his father.

Juan Carlos' scandals have deepened division in the Socialist-led government coalition, with junior partner United We Can making new calls for legal changes to improve the state's oversight of the crown.

Asked about the new development on Friday, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said the government can't comment on an individual's tax dealings but said that the media reports were "an example that the country works and holds everyone accountable.”

“No one is allowed to break the law," Calvo told Canal Sur radio. "This comment is even more relevant today.”

© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


GlobalTalk
A law firm representing Juan Carlos I says that the former Spanish monarch has paid close to 4.4 million euros ($5.33 million) to the country's tax authorities in his latest attempt to regularize past undeclared income.The 83-year-old former king, who has been living abroad...
Spain,Former King
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2021-00-26
Friday, 26 February 2021 08:00 AM
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