Ex-King Juan Carlos I hid millions of euros in shares in Switzerland

BarcelonaEx-King Juan Carlos was a shareholder for almost two decades of a dozen Ibex 35 companies. The Zagatka Foundation, which he allegedly used to hide a set of opaque commissions, pay for private flights, withdraw cash for other expenses, and hold thousands of shares in banks and companies such as BBVA, Santander, Iberdrola, ACS, Ence, Abertis, Endesa, Acciona and Repsol, among others. The identity of Juan Carlos I was hidden behind a complex corporate network that had ramifications in Liechtenstein and various fronts, according to new documents about the alleged fortune of the ex-King to which El Confidencial has had access.

The history of the Zagatka Foundation's accounts at the Credit Suisse and Lombard Odier banks reveals that the entity executed purchases and sales of shares worth millions. The company's documents, constituted in 2003 and ever since directed by the ex-monarch's cousin Álvaro de Orleans-Borbón, indicates that the money that arrived at the balance sheet from commissions in alleged intermediation operations was automatically invested in the stock market and other financial products to try to obtain new returns. Later, when Juan Carlos I needed funds to pay for a charter plane, pay for a hotel stay or simply to have cash available, Zagatka would make partial sales of the assets that would increase the available balance in the deposits, as El Confidencial explains.

These continuous trading operations took place at least since the creation of the company until August 2, 2018, when the investigation of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the canton of Geneva began around the alleged money laundering linked to King Juan Carlos I in Swiss territory. The proceedings have also been in the hands of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court since last July. Although most of the companies in which the foundation invested were Spanish, the company's banking information also reflects acquisitions in French, German, British and Swiss companies, as well as purchases of bonds and fund shares.

As an example, on January 6, 2009, in the midst of the economic crisis in Spain, Zagatka used the Credit Suisse account to acquire 35,000 shares in Iberdrola for a total of €235,136. Six days later, a deposit of €1,519 was made for the dividend generated by 15,000 shares of Banco Popular and another €5,203 for the bonus corresponding to 38,000 shares of BBVA. On February 2, it was Santander's turn to award a €6,300 premium for 62,500 shares of the bank. And two weeks later, the foundation decided to get rid of 1,000 shares of the construction company ACS -it had more than 30,000 at that time- for a value of €33,188.