The past of King Juan Carlos in Jersey, 'prologue' of the Lucum and Zagatka foundations

The emeritus monarch was the “sole beneficiary until 2004” of two ‘trusts’ in the tax haven of Jersey, according to the draft filing decree of one of the three investigations into allegedly criminal activities of the former head of state

The Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Alexander Luzon, has considered proven that the then king of Spain, John Charles I, has been the owner, the sole beneficiary, of the ‘trusts’ (trusts) Tartessos Y Hereu in the UK-dependent tax haven known as sweater, an island in the Channel Islands archipelago, created in 1995 and 1997 respectively, and whose beneficiary as of 2004 became the former banker and historian Joaquín Romero-Maura.

Luzón, according to COPE, has proposed the filing of the third and final investigative proceedings on the fortune allegedly illicitly amassed by the King of Spain and current King Emeritus self-banished in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) since August 4, 2020. This is one of the investigations undertaken by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office which were assumed in June 2020 by the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office.

The other errands

Another of the proceedings has revolved around the alleged commissions charged in the award of the AVE desert Mecca-Medina through a transfer from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance of 100 million dollars (64.8 million euros) made on August 8, 2008 to an account of Juan Carlos I in Switzerland, an investigation that will also be filed with the argument that the king enjoyed the constitutional inviolability, that is, he was irresponsible in civil and criminal proceedings.

Likewise, the transfers of the Mexican tycoon have been investigated Allen Sanginés-Krause worth 800,000 euros addressed to the air colonel Nicholas Murga, aide-de-camp to Juan Carlos I and his presumed figurehead. The colonel was in charge, through an Ibercaja account, of distributing the funds for the expenses of Juan Carlos I, Queen Sofía, their daughters and their sons.

And the proceedings were completed by inquiries about private jet travel of Juan Carlos I worth 7 million euros after his abdication in mid-June 2014, which were paid by the Zagatka Foundation (‘riddle’ in Russian).

tax adjustments

Juan Carlos I presented in December 2020 and February 2021 two tax adjustments. One as a donation worth €678,393.72 referring to the transfers of his friend, the Mexican millionaire Sanginés-Krause, and another by 4,395,901.96 euros, as “income derived from the assumption by the Zagatka Foundation of certain trips and services & rdquor ;.

These two regularizations were presented after the prosecutor in charge of the proceedings, John Ignatius Fields, will notify the lawyer of the emeritus, the criminal Javier Sanchez-Junco, in June, November and December, each of the proceedings and offered to appear in person at them. The lawyer refrained from being part of these proceedings to cover himself against the fact that the fiscal adjustments could be invalidated for not being spontaneous, as required by law.

The draft of the decree of filing of the proceedings that, according to tax sources, were more advanced, those of Jersey, was sent by the chief prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Alexander Luzon, several weeks ago.

But, according to those sources consulted, the central part of what can be called the criminal exoneration of Juan Carlos I are the two tax regularizations for just over 5 million euros, to which the National Fraud Investigation Organization (ONIF) must give its consent. And since they are regularizations presented after the notification of the investigations to Juan Carlos I, the technicians have to justify why, despite this, they are considered “spontaneous & rdquor ;.

Tartessos and Hereu

In his conclusions on the operations on the island of Jersey, according to what has been pointed out, the Luzon prosecutor points out that the Tartessos and Hereu trusts (in Catalan, the person destined to receive an inheritance) “were founded in 1995 and 1997, respectively, of which the then King of Spain was the sole beneficiary.”

Said ‘trusts’ were created, according to the draft, by Manuel Prado and Colon de Carvajal. Although the report does not say so, it is about the personal friend of Juan Carlos I who has provided multiple services for him, and according to multiple evidence, his figurehead. The report relates that these trusts were “liquidated & rdquor; in 2004 and that the funds were transferred to another Jersey ‘trust’ called The JRM 2004 Trust, initials corresponding to Joaquin Romero-Maura.

According to the prosecutor, “it will never be known with total certainty the source of funds with which they were created & rdquor ;, and points out that there is no evidence to link between 2004 and 2021 The JRM 2004 Trust with Juan Carlos I. In 2002, a ruling by the National High Court declared proven that they were transferred $20 million to the account Adnhil Investments at the Societé Générale Alsacienne (Sogenal) bank in Geneva, in the so-called ‘ward base operation‘. The beneficiary of that transfer of May 1992: Manuel Prado and Colón de Carvajal.

According to the sentence, that amount “was later distributed among several accounts of different banking entities & rdquor ;. The money was sent by order of the then strong man of Kuwait Investment Office (KIO), the sovereign investment fund, Xavier of the Rose. Already then, the rapporteur, the magistrate Syro Garcia, warned that the money could not be traced.

Manuel Prado y Colón de Carvajal was convicted of a crime of misappropriation to 2 years in prison and the payment of 12 million euros. Prado enters prison on April 26, 2004, where he will remain for two months.

The change of beneficiary

The change of beneficiary in Jersey, with the prior creation of a new ‘trust’ in the name of Romero Maura, to which the Luzon report alludes, took place at those crucial moments in 2004. Until then, Prado and Colón de Carvajal had been “the king’s man & rdquor;. Faced with difficulties with the law, Romero-Maura then enters the scene.

Romero-Maura, who is now 82 years old and suffers from Alzheimer’s in advanced stage, had financial experience. He had been a banker in Washington and was named president and CEO of Merrill Lynch France, where he worked in 1987 and 1988. And, together with Manuel Prado and Colón de Carvajal, he had served Juan Carlos I, in 1993, as advisor in the foundation that would give birth to the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at New York University.

In its report, Luzón points out that the purpose of the Tartessos and Hereu trusts in the 1990s “was to support the then King Don Juan Carlos in the event that he was deposed by an institutional coup or a similar situation and they had him as the sole beneficiary & rdquor ;.

Precisely in those years, in October 2003, in the tax haven of Liechtenstein, the Zagatka Foundation. The first beneficiary is Alvaro of Orleans, cousin of Juan Carlos I; the third beneficiary is Juan Carlos I; the fourth is the then Prince of Asturias, Philip of Bourbon, and the fifth beneficiaries are the infantas Elena and Cristina.

The document

According to the document to which EL PERIÓDICO had access, on October 30, 2003, when opening the Zagatka Foundation account, number 0251-798208-9, in the bank Credit Suisse from Geneva, Arturo Fasana, manager of Orleans, and also later directly of King Juan Carlos I, records in the client profile form that he expects to receive a movement of money from €250 million approximately (see document).

Arturo Fasana customer profile form at Credit Suisse bank

And in the box above the origin of heritage values deposited in the entity and how they have been acquired, states: “Commission received in the process of selling Saragossa Bank to Barclay’s Bank, London & rdquor ;. The same concept will appear in a client profile dated July 28, 2009. For the 7 million euros that Zagatka paid to private jet companies after his abdication, Juan Carlos I has presented the most important regularization, according to has pointed out, the 4,395,901.96 euros.

But what is striking is the coincidence in the political argument between the statutes of the Zagatka Foundation and those of the Tartessos and Hereu trusts. Orleans, Zagatka’s first beneficiary, names third beneficiary John Charles I “due to his feeling of admiration and recognition for having opened the path to freedom for Spain and having led the country, with his perseverance, ability and humanity, reestablishing public liberties and a parliamentary regime, until democratization & rdquor ;.

‘The Tempest’

Tartessos and Hereu, created by Manuel Prado and Colon de Carvajal, seek to “support the then King Don Juan Carlos in the event that he was deposed by an unconstitutional coup” or a similar situation. “And because of that destiny, the past is prologue & rdquor ;, says Antonio to Sebastián in act II scene I of that work of power and control that is ‘The Tempest’, the last of Shakespeare.

The past of King Juan Carlos in Jersey, ‘prologue’ of the Lucum and Zagatka foundations

The emeritus monarch was the “sole beneficiary until 2004” of two ‘trusts’ in the tax haven of Jersey, according to the draft filing decree of one of the three investigations into allegedly criminal activities of the former head of state