Switzerland drops money laundering cases involving Spain’s ex-King Juan Carlos
Geneva:
Geneva’s chief prosecutor said Monday that he had dropped a criminal investigation into allegations that Spain’s former King Juan Carlos laundered “illegal commission payments” from Saudi Arabia over insufficient evidence.
A Swiss private bank involved in the three-year criminal proceedings was sentenced to a fine for failing to report.
Prosecutor Yves Bertossa said he found that Saudi Arabia had deposited $ 100 million in August 2008 into an account opened a month earlier with the private bank Mirabaud on behalf of a Panamanian foundation owned by Juan Carlos.
Bertossa said in a statement, however, that he had not been able to prove sufficient connections with a contract awarded three years later to Spanish companies for a high-speed rail link in Saudi Arabia.
The Spanish royal family did not want to comment on the development. Juan Carlos, who lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates, could not initially be reached to comment.
Through his lawyer, Juan Carlos has previously declined to comment on the various allegations of wrongdoing against him. The former king’s Geneva asset manager was cited as a witness in court documents that a Saudi ambassador had described the money as “pure gift”.
Bertossa said he opened the criminal investigation in 2018 after news reports that the former king, who abdicated in 2014, may have received “illegal commissions” related to the contracts and hid the funds in Swiss accounts.
“The investigation has shown that Juan Carlos I actually received $ 100 million from the Saudi Treasury on August 8, 2008 in the Lucum Foundation’s account at Mirabaud & Cie SA in Geneva,” said Bertossa.
The use of foundations and offshore accounts by various protagonists in the case had shown a “willingness to conspire,” but he said he was unable to sufficiently demonstrate the connection between the Saudi payment and the contract for the rail link between Medina and Mecca.
FEES REJECTED
Additional payments of nearly $ 9 million from Kuwait and Bahrain have been received by Juan Carlos and his German-born former lover Corinna Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Bertossa said. She received the balance of 65 million euros ($ 73.3 million) from the Mirabaud account, which was closed in June 2012 and the money was transferred to her account in the Bahamas, prosecutors added.
The charges against four defendants, among whom from court documents the asset manager, a lawyer and a banker as well as Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein were found, for alleged “heavy money laundering”, said Bertossa. Juan Carlos was not among the five suspects charged, which included the bank, which was accused of failing to report unusual activity on an account under the Money Laundering Act.
“Today I was finally acquitted of any wrongdoing in the three-year investigation by the Swiss public prosecutor’s office,” said Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein in a message to Reuters.
“My innocence was evident from the start and this episode further harmed me as part of the ongoing abuse campaign against me through certain Spanish interests.”
“Meanwhile, the main perpetrators have not been investigated and have been given time to hide their activities. They will not be held accountable,” she said.
Mirabaud Bank was fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($ 54,100) for failing to report Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein’s account and his unusual activity with funds from the former king’s foundation, the prosecutor said in a statement.
The bank said in a statement that it welcomed the termination of the criminal proceedings. The alleged violation of the reporting obligation does not affect the account linked to the former Spanish king and has since developed and strengthened its internal procedures.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and will be posted via a syndicated feed.)