Foreign

Spain’s embattled King leaves country to an unknown destination

 

 

Former King of Spain Juan Carlos has moved out of the country to an unknown destination.

He made this move weeks after he was linked to an inquiry into alleged corruption.

Juan Carlos who is 82 years old announced the move on Monday in a letter to his son, Felipe, to whom he handed power six years ago.

He said in the letter that he would be available if prosecutors needed to interview him.

In June, Spain’s Supreme Court opened an investigation into the alleged involvement of Juan Carlos in a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia.

 

The former king had most likely already left when the letter was put in the public domain on Monday, Spain’s El País newspaper reports. It is  not clear where Juan Carlos is, though some Spanish media report he is in the Dominican Republic.

It is a humiliating exit for a king who had once seemed set to go down in history as the leader who skillfully guided Spain from dictatorship to democracy after the death of General Franco in 1975, BBC Europe correspondent Nick Beake said.

The former King was abdicated in 2014 after nearly 40 years as king following a corruption investigation involving his daughter’s husband and a controversial elephant hunting trip the monarch took during Spain’s financial crisis.

Source; BBC

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