Why Saudi Arabia gave 65 million to Juan Carlos I: the mystery that has yet to be clarified

Juan Carlos I and Corinna Larsen greet each other in Barcelona in 2006.SCHROEWIG/Maelsa (GTRES)

Two different investigations in Switzerland and Spain that have lasted more than three years have failed to prove that the king emeritus charged a millionaire commission for the works of the AVE to Mecca, an infrastructure built by a consortium of Spanish companies.

But neither have they revealed the main enigma of their investigations: why the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance transferred on August 8, 2008 the 100 million dollars (65 million euros) to the secret account that Juan Carlos I, then head of the State, had in the bank Mirabaud & Cie in the name of the Panamanian company Lucum.

Swiss and Spanish prosecutors have also not clarified the "gift" of 1.9 million dollars (1.6 million euros) from the King of Bahrain that Juan Carlos I delivered in a suitcase full of banknotes in Geneva, in April 2010, to his manager from Geneva, Arturo Fasana.

Neither the transfers of five and two million dollars (6.1 million euros) from the National Bank of Kuwait and from Bahrain that Corinna Larsen received in her five accounts in the same Swiss bank.

The latter were days after the head of state visited both countries.

She affirms that they respond to the collection of her consulting work.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office confirmed that it will not file a lawsuit against whoever was the head of state between 1975 and 2014, and the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, has already signed the decree to file the three proceedings that he kept open the public ministry.

The bank's questionnaire ("

in English) filled out by Fasana, the manager who managed the account of the king emeritus, is the only document that the investigators have obtained in their investigations on the reason why he received the 65 million .

There, this manager of Spanish fortunes in Switzerland reflected that the money was a "gift" from the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdelaziz.

But neither in Geneva nor in Madrid has it been possible to find the contract for this donation.

There is also no donation from the King of Bahrain.

King Juan Carlos and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz (now deceased) have a cup of tea at the royal palace in Jeddah in 2008.

Undocumented donation

The only explanation as to why today's king emeritus received both payments has been given by Fasana and Dante Canonica, the lawyer and administrator of the Lucum foundation, since Juan Carlos I has not been called to testify in either of the two cases.

Neither has any representative of Saudi Arabia.

"Did the Mirabaud bank ask for the donation contract between the King of Saudi Arabia and Juan Carlos I to be presented to it?" Swiss prosecutor Yves Bertossa asked Fasana during his statement as a defendant for an alleged crime of money laundering.

”No, because there were no official documents regarding that donation.

At no time did the bank ask us if there was such a contract.

Nor did they ask me for a contract on the donation from Bahrain, ”replied the manager.

Yves Mirabaud, president of the entity, has confirmed that he is not aware of the existence of any document that supports the donation.

When asked by the Swiss prosecutor whether said transaction seemed habitual to him, he replied as follows: "I would say that it was a rather infrequent transaction."

The account of Juan Carlos I was kept in a safe and only the six partners of the entity knew of its existence.

Bertossa has sentenced Mirabaud & Cie to pay a fine of 48,000 euros for not having informed the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS), a Swiss body that monitors bank transactions and pursues money laundering.

The Saudi Foreign Minister, Abdel al Joubeir, in Madrid, in a file image. Víctor Sainz

Silence of the main witness

Abdullah bin Abdelaziz, the then king of Saudi Arabia, died in 2015 at the age of 90, but Abdel al Joubeir, his former foreign minister, is the man who could unravel the enigma.

Neither the Swiss prosecutor nor his Spanish colleagues, with Juan Ignacio Campos, recently deceased, and Alejandro Luzón at the head, have obtained his testimony.

Nor has this newspaper succeeded, despite repeated calls to Al Joubeir's secretary in Riyadh (capital of Saudi Arabia) and to his personal cell phone.

"Sending a rogatory commission to Saudi Arabia would be doomed to failure," Bertossa explained in his filing order in a clear allusion to that country's lack of collaboration with European justice.

According to Fasana's account, Juan Carlos I announced to him that he was going to receive a donation and asked him to meet with Al Joubeir in Washington (USA) where he was then serving as ambassador.

“I asked him clearly if it was a gift in exchange for some service that Juan Carlos I had done for Saudi Arabia.

He answered me verbatim: 'No, it is a pure gift to his brother'

("No, it is a pure gift for his brother").

And I believed him.

Al Joubier asked me what structure was going to be created to receive the intended gift.

I told him that I didn't know yet because he had to talk to the bank.

However, I considered creating a foundation [...] I imagined that it would be a gift between 5 and 10 million.

Later, in Basel, he told me the amount of the donation and asked me for the IBAN to make the transfer,” Fasana told prosecutor Bertossa.

Canonica, the administrator of the Panamanian company in which the 65 million landed, ratified Fasana's version before the prosecutor.

"[Juan Carlos I] repeated to us several times that it was only a donation by the [Saudi] king."

“When the funds arrived we discovered the exact amount.

He pronounced [the then head of state] a phrase like: 'Oh, my God, they have been very generous!'

Juan Carlos I was surprised, but at no time did he feel uncomfortable with the amount received.

He is not an uncomfortable type of man.”

Project of life and rupture

A person close to the king emeritus tells EL PAÍS the alleged version he received from Al Joubeir during a meal in Washington after the latter's participation in the delivery of the 65 million was revealed.

“I asked him and he told me that Juan Carlos I had visited Saudi Arabia with Corinna Larsen and that shortly after King Abdullah called him and said: 'I want to give my brother a gift.'

I asked him if it was normal and he told me not too much, but it could happen”.

The testimony of Corinna Larsen, with whom Juan Carlos I was romantically linked since 2004, could have shed light on the real reason why the 65 million were delivered, but it has not been.

While he confessed to the commissioner José Manuel Villarejo that it was the payment of a commission for the works of the AVE to Mecca, he assured the prosecutor Bertossa that they spoke to him of a donation.

Larsen refused to answer any questions about her talks with the now-retired police officer accused of a long string of crimes.

“In conversations with Banco Gonet or with Canonica, it was explained to me that [the money] came from a donation from King Abdalá in favor of Juan Carlos I. They did not explain the reason for that donation, but it is a common practice among kings, specifically in the Middle East.

Juan Carlos I had not talked to me about this previously.

He was very discreet about the state of his finances, ”said the German consultant.

Canonica declared, however, that she was "aware" of the donation.

This lawyer created most of the 12

[registered in tax havens]

with which Larsen operated and where he hid more than 70 million.

The 65 million ended up being transferred in 2012 by the then head of the Spanish State to a Larsen account in Nassau (Bahamas) when the Swiss bank forced him to cancel his account.

On this occasion, the donation is documented and is "irrevocable".

The delivery of this money opened a silent battle between the couple when the sentimental relationship was broken and the king emeritus demanded the money.

“That money, it was not a commission.

It was a gift from King Abdalá to Juan Carlos I for his new life plan with Corinna.

A plan that contemplated his separation from the queen and her abdication.

A project that was later cut short, ”a person from the most intimate circle of the king emeritus tells this newspaper.

Corinna Larsen, in 2005. Cordon Press

money safe

Where is the money?

Larsen used it steadily.

He bought a stately mansion in the west of England in 2015 for six million pounds (seven million euros) and invested another seven in its renovation.

The property appears in the name of Jade Trust, a Panamanian foundation whose beneficiary is his son Alexander, 20 years old.

Chyknell Hall Estate, has 200 acres (about 81 hectares), 11 rooms, a library and cricket ground.

At the end of 2016 and 2017, Corinna transferred another 42 million dollars (36.6 million euros) from her account in Nassau to one of her personal accounts at the Fieldpoint Private Bank in New York (USA), where a certain “ Mr Conway” manages his estate.

Other relevant amounts of this money were sent to accounts in London, the city where she lives.

Larsen currently lives in Eaton Square, in a house that cost five million pounds (5.9 million euros), and in which he invested another four (4.7 million euros).

Juan Carlos I participated in the purchase of it with another "donation" of over 1.5 million pounds (1.7 million euros).

The funds used for the purchase came from Gulf Development (GDI), a Larsen company based in the Cayman Islands, another glassy tax haven.

Like the Spanish Prosecutor's Office, the Swiss investigation filed the case and lifted the accusation of money laundering against Larsen, Fasana and Canonica.

However, Bertossa highlighted in his order the repeated "concealment spirit" of the 65 million by all the actors, including Juan Carlos I, and the lack of documentation of the millionaire transfers and "the alleged donations."

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