Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Former King of Spain Goes to Exile in Abu Dhabi, UAE


Fri 07 Aug 2020 | 01:43 PM
Ahmed Moamar

The ABC, a wide circulated Spanish daily reported on Friday that the former Spanish king Juan Carlos traveled to Abu Dhabi on a private plane on Monday. The ousted monarch went to exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The newspaper said that the plane was on its way from Paris to Abu Dhabi, and stopped in the city of Peugeot in northwestern Spain to transport Juan Carlos, four of his security guards and another person.

Earlier, Carlos announced his intention to leave his country and go to live in exile, after investigations inside and outside Spain indicating his involvement in suspicions of corruption when on the throne.

There are legal doubts that the 82-year-old former king received a huge commission from Saudi Arabia and deposited it in a Swiss bank in 2008.

The former king of Spain informed his son, King Felipe VI, of his intention to leave the country to reside in exile, and the latter agreed with his father's decision, according to a statement by the Spanish royal court.

Juan Carlos ascended to the throne of Spain in 1975, after the death of General Francisco Franco, and won ample respect for his role in helping lead Spain from dictatorship to democracy.

But recent scandals tarnished his image, pushing him to abdicate the throne in 2014, and then leave the country to live abroad.

The students of King Juan Carlos University and the Gijon Municipal Council in northern Spain expressed the need to remove the name of Juan Carlos from the university and a street in the municipality, following rumors of the previous kings involvement in a corruption case.

"La Foz de Asturias" newspaper quoted Marina Pineda, a spokeswoman for the Municipality of Gijón in northern Spain, as saying that the municipality would change the name of Juan Carlos I Street, because it considered that the previous king "no longer embodied the institutional, moral and democratic values ​​of our society.

In Madrid, the signatories of the online petition to change the university's name had passed 41,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning.

Spanish state television channel RTVE said on Tuesday, citing sources close to the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, that he had expressed his desire to return to his country soon.

On Monday, the royal palace announced that Juan Carlos, who abdicated the throne in 2014, had decided to leave the country so that his personal problems would not overshadow the rule of his son, the current king.

Spanish and Swiss investigators are looking into allegations that Juan Carlos was involved in a deal for a high-speed rail line in Saudi Arabia under which he received $ 100 million to pass the deal without any hindrances.

El Mundo" a Spanish newspaper, citing its sources who said that the former king may return to Spain in September this year.

Last Monday, the Spanish Royal House announced that the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, told his son, King Felipe, that he had decided to leave Spain, against the backdrop of corruption accusations hovering around him.

In June, the Spanish Supreme Court opened an investigation into Juan Carloss involvement in a contract for a high-speed railway project in Saudi Arabia, after the Swiss newspaper "La Tribune de Geneva" reported that he had received $ 100 million from the late Saudi king.

Juan Carlos, 82, has repeatedly refused to respond to these accusations through his lawyer.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the corruption allegations surrounding former King Juan Carlos as disturbing. This came after the media published details of an investigation into possible payments related to a railway contract.

On the other hand, local sources in the UAE did not uncover any special preparations to receive the exiled former Spanish king.