Spain’s ex-King Juan Carlos is in Abu Dhabi: News report

Spanish daily newspaper ABC reports a private plane took the former monarch to the UAE on Monday.

Funeral of Luxembourg''s Grand Duke Jean in Luxembourg
Juan Carlos is not formally under investigation and through his lawyer he has repeatedly declined to comment on corruption allegations [Francois Lenoir/Reuters]

Spain’s former king, Juan Carlos, has been staying at Abu Dhabi’s exclusive Emirates Palace Hotel since leaving Spain on board a private jet on Monday, newspaper ABC reported on Friday.

Dogged by mounting corruption allegations, Carlos, 81, abruptly announced his decision to leave Spain on Monday but there has been no official confirmation of his whereabouts, setting off an international guessing game.

The Spanish daily ABC said a private plane en route from Paris to Abu Dhabi stopped off in the northwestern Spanish city of Vigo to pick up Carlos, four security guards, and one other person on Monday morning.

Upon arrival at Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen airport, the king and his entourage were flown by helicopter to the government-owned Emirates Palace Hotel, ABC reported.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials were not immediately available for comment. The Emirates Palace Hotel did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

A palace spokesman said he did not know where Carlos was. The former king’s lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Some media have speculated Carlos is in a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic, and others place him in Portugal, where he spent much of his youth. But officials in both countries have said they have no knowledge of him arriving.

In June, Spain’s Supreme Court opened a preliminary investigation into Carlos’s involvement in a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia, after Switzerland’s La Tribune de Geneve newspaper reported he had received $100m from the late Saudi king. Switzerland has also opened an investigation.

The former monarch is not formally under investigation. Through his lawyer he has repeatedly declined to comment on the allegations.

His lawyer, the royal palace and the government have all declined to say where he is.

Source: Reuters