Spain’s former king Juan Carlos ‘flees to Dominican Republic’ after corruption allegations

Former monarch cites ‘public repercussions of certain episodes of my past private life’ in letter announcing abrupt departure

Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 following a series of scandals (AP)

Speculation surrounding the whereabouts of Juan Carlos continued to grow on Tuesday, with media reports suggesting Spain’s former king fled to the Dominican Republic following allegations of corruption.

In a letter to his son King Felipe VI, the former monarch wrote of his “considered decision to move” due to the “public repercussions of certain episodes of my past private life”.

“Guided by my desire to do what is best to serve the Spanish people, its institutions and you as king, I am informing you of my ... decision to leave Spain at this time,” Juan Carlos said. He wrote that his “legacy and my own dignity demand that it should be so” and said he did not want to make his son’s role difficult.

The royal family published the letter online on Monday. King Felipe thanked his father for his decision and referenced “the historic importance” of his reign for democracy in Spain.

However, the palace did not disclose the former king's destination, and his whereabouts remained a source of speculation and conflicting reports on Tuesday.

According to Spain’s La Vanguardia and ABC newspapers, Juan Carlos headed for the Dominican Republic via Portgual after leaving the palace on Sunday. Portuguese TV channel TVI24 and tabloid Correio da Manha had said on Monday Juan Carlos was in Cascais, a resort area near Lisbon where he spent part of his childhood.

Spanish news website El Confidencial, which also reported the royal was in Portugal, said the palace might confirm his location later on Tuesday.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic and in Portugal's Cascais municipality said they had no news of his whereabouts.

Juan Carlos’s is being investigated by authorities in Spain and Switzerland over claims he was given millions of euros by Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah in alleged bribes for a high-speed rail contract.

He is alleged to have transferred a large amount of the money to a former mistress in what investigators are considering as a possible attempt to hide the payments from authorities.

The exile of the once-popular but now scandal-tarnished King Emeritus, as he is known following his abdication, stunned Spaniards and left them divided over whether the 82-year-old should have stayed to face justice.

Juan Carlos came to the throne in 1975 after the death of General Franco and was widely respected for helping to guide Spain from dictatorship to democracy.

But his popularity sank in later years due to a series of scandals, including an elephant-hunting trip in Botswana, prompting him to step down in 2014.

Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia (Jonathan Bachman/Reuters)

Switzerland’s La Tribune de Geneve newspaper reported in March that Juan Carlos had received $100m (£90m) from the late Saudi King.

That was followed by a drip-feed of allegations in the Spanish media, including that he gave much of the money to a former mistress.

Juan Carlos has repeatedly declined to comment on the corruption allegations. Spanish monarchs have immunity during their reign but his abdication leaves him potentially open to prosecution.

While prosecutors in Geneva and Madrid are looking into offshore accounts and possible bribes, Juan Carlos is not formally under investigation in either country and so is not technically a fugitive.

His lawyer, Javier Sanchez-Junco, said in a brief statement that despite his decision to leave the former king would “remain at the disposal of the prosecutors’ office”.

Deputy prime minister Pablo Iglesias, of the left-wing Podemos party, said Juan Carlos should have stayed in Spain.

“Juan Carlos de Borbon’s flight abroad is an act unworthy of a former head of state and it leaves the monarchy in a very compromised position,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

His party’s parliamentary group went further, saying there was no reason to continue with a monarchy “lacking the minimum ethical values” in a statement which risked opening a rift with its government partner, the royalist Socialist Party.

The government had repeatedly asked King Felipe to take steps to distance himself further from his father. He put an end to his father’s palace allowance and renounced his own inheritance in March, following allegations of secret offshore accounts reported to be linked to the Saudi rail contract.

Opinion polls have shown Spaniards to be roughly equally split over whether their country should remain a monarchy or become a republic – a move that is impossible under the current constitution, itself very hard to change amid a highly fragmented parliament.

Additional reporting by agencies