Bahrain Mirror: The Spanish "El País" newspaper published a Swiss investigation stating that Juan Carlos I, Spain's former king, allegedly received a €1.7 million donation from the king of Bahrain in 2010.

The newspaper reported that the father of Spain's current king, Felipe VI, gave the cash-filled suitcase to his consultant, Arturo Fasana.

El País reported that Fasana told Swiss public prosecutor Yves Bertossa - whilst testifying in October 2018 - that the handover of the cash took place in 2010, and that he had subsequently deposited it in Switzerland's Mirabaud bank.

This comes in the light of an investigation Switzerland is conducting into the activism of Lucum Foundation and its bank account, in the Swiss Mirabaud Bank, whose sole beneficiary was Juan Carlos I.

According to a report published by the British the "The Times" newspaper, Fasana testified that he did not know why Juan Carlos was given the money, and only that "he was a highly regarded person in the Gulf countries".

The British "The Telegraph" newspaper revealed last winter that Juan Carlos was also a beneficiary of a $100 million gift from Saudi Arabia during ruling Spain.

It is believed that Saudi Arabia has paid him in return for helping consortium of Spanish companies winning a contract to build a high-speed train line between Medina and Mecca.

The Spanish royal palace announced in March that king Felipe VI had abandoned inheritance from his father, King Juan Carlos, and suspended his official annual allowance on corruption suspicions.

In the palace statement, Felipe VI said that in April he had made it clear to a notary that he would accept no money from the foundation in question, Lucum.

He also said he had absolutely no knowledge of having been named as a beneficiary to another foundation, which according to press reports paid millions of euros towards his father's flights in private jets.

Juan Carlos came to the throne after the death of the military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

He had to abdicate in favor of his son after a series of scandals.

The royal palace also announced that Juan Carlos would no longer receive his annual allowance that exceed 194,000 euros, according to press.

Arabic Version