The former king of Spain Juan Carlos, in exile in Abu Dhabi and at the heart of several judicial investigations, was able to settle a tax debt of 4.4 million euros thanks to the loans of a dozen friends, say several Spanish media on Saturday.
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They are a dozen generous benefactors, businessmen and aristocrats for the majority of them, to have granted to the ex-sovereign credits to help him to pay this slate, according to the dailies El Pais and El Mundo. or Cadena Ser radio.
These are indeed loans and not donations, because these donors have discarded the latter, taxed at 40%.
These are therefore loan contracts that were signed with Juan Carlos I, some even before a notary, in order to avoid legal problems, details El Pais.
The collection of some 4,395,901.96 euros, which began in January, initially included 32 names, the daily understands, but this number was finally reduced to about ten people, the others having failed to accomplish the procedures in due time.
Each loan, of a different amount according to each benefactor, includes an interest rate (which can be 0%) and a deadline to repay this credit.
This last point, says El Pais, is problematic because Juan Carlos I is 83 years old and cannot contract long-term credit, except that the payment of the debt falls on his heirs on his death.
Friday, the king's lawyer announced the payment of these 4.4 million to the tax authorities, an amount which, according to the press, aims to regularize his situation after undeclared benefits in kind, such as travel, including jet flights private, paid for by a Liechtenstein-based foundation owned by one of its distant cousins.
This is the second time that the former sovereign has settled his debts with the tax authorities in this way.
In December, he had already paid nearly 680,000 euros, a regularization linked to an anti-corruption investigation into the use by Juan Carlos of credit cards linked to bank accounts in the names of a Mexican entrepreneur and an officer of the Spanish Air Force.
Going into exile in Abu Dhabi in August amid growing suspicion about the opaque origin of his fortune, Juan Carlos, 83, is targeted by three investigations in total.