The Liechtenstein Tax Agency communicates that Juan Carlos I “is not a beneficiary” of Zagatka

The response of the Liechtenstein authorities does not support this suspicion. After examining the documents requested from the representatives of Zagatka to meet the request of the Spanish inspectors, they affirm that the emeritus king “is not a beneficiary” of the foundation.

The representatives of Zagatka have communicated, for their part, that Juan Carlos I has never had “powers of instruction” and that “he has not had nor does he have any legal claim” on the assets of the foundation.

According to the data that EL ESPAÑOL has had access to, the National Fraud Investigation Office (ONIF) sent on July 14 a request for information to the Liechtenstein Tax Administration under the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Matters Fiscal.

Liechtenstein has promptly replied to the petition, considering it admissible in accordance with the requirements of the Convention.

Only two days after receiving it, the Principality’s tax authorities wrote to the representatives of the Zagatka Foundation to inform them of the existence of the ONIF request and to invite them to provide the required information and documents within 14 days.

Zagatka has done it, even though has not known complete communication of the ONIF but only the specific questions asked by the Spanish inspectors, a total of seven. The foundation of the cousin of the king emeritus wanted to access the full text of the application, but the Liechtenstein tax authorities denied it.

“Audit the old king”

The ONIF indicated in its letter to the Vaduz tax authorities that it is carrying out “a audit of the fiscal affairs of Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón, former king of Spain “, which has presented complementary tax returns. It refers to the regularization of 4.4 million euros carried out by the king emeritus last February and that the AEAT is checking, for which it has opened an inspection.

“The amounts not paid within the legal deadlines, which were the subject of supplementary tax returns, exceed the amount of 120,000 euros per fiscal year set by law in article 305 of the Penal Code as an objective indication of the existence of evidence of the commission of a tax offense“indicates the ONIF.” However, “it adds,” Article 305 of the Penal Code itself specifies that fraud is not punishable if the taxpayer voluntarily regularizes his tax situation. “

The National Fraud Investigation Office stated that, when it presented the tax regularization, the representative of Juan Carlos I reported that the Zagatka Foundation had assumed the payment of private trips made by the monarch to places such as French Polynesia, the Caribbean, Canada, United States or Persian Gulf.

Between 2014 (the year in which Juan Carlos I abdicated the Crown and, therefore, ceased to be protected by the criminal inviolability enjoyed by heads of State) and 2018, Zagatka paid trips worth eight million euros. If those carried out since 2006 are added, some of them in the company of his ex-lover Corinna Larsen, the charges against Zagatka rise to 11 million.

The ONIF communication specifies that the representative of Juan Carlos de Borbón before the Tax Agency has provided the invoices corresponding to the trips paid by his cousin’s foundation between 2014 and 2018, after asking Zagatka herself.

“Despite the availability of certain information, there is still a lack of information and documentation that our tax auditors consider essential to establish the existence of a recognition [de la deuda tributaria] and a complete liquidation “, affirms the ONIF, that in its letter to the Liechtenstein authorities they expose their suspicion that the king emeritus “could be the beneficial owner of the Zagatka Foundation “.

“If Juan Carlos de Borbón were the beneficial owner, all assets of the foundation would be credited and, taking into account the amounts already declared in the complementary tax returns, they would have to be declared in the corresponding tax returns as unjustified capital gains “, explains the ONIF.

“If it were not the beneficial owner,” he adds, “our tax auditors would require information on the additional services supposedly provided by the Zagatka Foundation from which Juan Carlos de Borbón could have benefited, such as accommodation corresponding to the trips already declared. form, they must be declared as unjustified capital gains in the corresponding tax returns “.

Seven requests

With these premises, the ONIF formulates seven information requirements:

– Information about the Zagatka Foundation, registry, statutes, registered office, tax situation and status and funds of the foundation. “Please, provide us with the relevant documents,” he asks the counterpart of the Principality.

– Identification of the founders, beneficiaries, directors, representatives of the foundation and agents in their bank accounts.

– Financial statements and, where appropriate, the audit reports.

– If Juan Carlos de Borbón is the effective beneficiary of the Zagatka Foundation, it is requested that all bank accounts owned by the foundation be named.

– Invoices from Viajes Tierra Viva SA, Fathomless Advisory Services Limited and Air Partner PLC.

– Contracts, agreements, estimates and / or service offers entered into with Viajes Tierra Viva SA, Fathomless Advisory Services Limited and Air Partner PLC for all invoices.

– List of all payments and transfers made to Juan Carlos de Borbón, either directly by transfer from bank accounts or indirectly through the assumption and payment of other expenses charged by third parties, with the corresponding bank statements.

Answer

The Liechtenstein authorities indicate in their reply to the ONIF that, “after examining the documents, the legal representative of the Zagatka Foundation confirms that Juan Carlos de Borbón is neither founder nor beneficiary of Zagatka and that it has not had and does not have any legal claim or powers of instruction in relation to it. “

The answer attaches several documents that the Vaduz tax authorities themselves have examined, among them the letter of Álvaro de Orleans-Borbón that gave rise to the constitution of Zagatka on October 1, 2003, long before assuming the payment of the king’s travel. emeritus.

They have also sent the ONIF the three regulations that the Álvaro de Orleans-Borbón foundation has had, dated 2003, 2006 and 2020. In the second, Juan Carlos I appears as the third beneficiary “after the death of the first and second beneficiary” , that is, Álvaro himself and his son André, born in 1976.

In addition, both would have had to die at the same time (or André before his father) so that the emeritus king could have rights to Zagatka’s assets, since, in the absence of Álvaro, his son would have become the first beneficiary and I could have determined who would be the second. In any case, Juan Carlos I disappeared as the third beneficiary of Zagatka in 2020, when De Orleans-Borbón modified the rules of the foundation.

In their reply to the Spanish inspectors, the Liechtenstein authorities state that “the reference to the beneficiaries of the Zagatka Foundation (primary and secondary beneficiaries) is significant in the procedure relating to Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón and shows that this is not a beneficiary of the foundationIt only becomes one after the death of the primary and secondary beneficiaries. “

What did Zagatka pay

The legal representative of the Zagatka Foundation also presented to the Liechtenstein tax authorities documents relating to travel payments Juan Carlos de Borbón, who have been sent to Spain.

In the reply sent to the ONIF, reference is made to letters from Credit Suisse and Lombard Odier – where Zagatka has accounts – which include vouchers and receipts.

The foundation admits to having assumed expenses for transfers of the king emeritus on private flights between 2014 and 2018 amounting to 8.009.150 euros. Some of them were advanced by Corinna Larsen’s first husband, Philippe Adkins, a friend of Juan Carlos I. Zagatka reimbursed those expenses to Adkins with transfers to his company Fathomless Advisory SL

The year in which the foundation paid the most trips was 2017, with 3.1 million euros. The least, 2018, with 558,046 euros, according to the documentation sent to the ONIF.

Instead, Zagatka denies taking over the accommodation and maintenance of the emeritus king during these displacements. ONIF is investigating who assumed these expenses.

Álvaro de Orleans-Borbón also denies that his cousin has received amounts in cash from the foundation or that the former head of state has used bank cards associated with Zagatka.

The founder of Zagatka has explained in his appearances as a witness before the Public Prosecutor’s Offices of Switzerland and Spain that financial support to the Spanish Monarchy has been part of a “tradition” of his family. Already his grandfather, Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, infant of Spain, helped his first cousin Alfonso XIII, grandfather of Juan Carlos I, the same as Álvaro has done with him.

According to him, that was the sense of including the emeritus king as the third beneficiary of the Zagatka funds: the foundation’s assets would go to the Spanish Crown in the event that Álvaro de Orleans-Borbón and his son were absent.

Juan Carlos I’s cousin chose to remove him as the third beneficiary after Felipe VI, in a statement issued on March 15, 2020, broke all economic ties with his father, announcing his willingness to renounce the inheritance that may correspond to him.

Own Felipe VI appeared until June 2020 as the fourth beneficiary of Zagatka for the death of André Orleans-Borbón and Juan Carlos I. Infantas Elena and Cristina were the fifth beneficiaries in the event of the death of Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI. Neither the current king nor his sisters appear from that date as beneficiaries of the foundation.

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