Corinna Larsen, the former lover of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I, told a Swiss court that the Spanish monarch had at one point offered her a hefty sum of 64.8 million euros “out of gratitude and love” to “guarantee” her future and that of her children, El Pais reported, citing Larsen's statement to the Swiss prosecutor's office from December 2018.
According to Larsen, Juan Carlos I did not intend to “get rid of the money”, but suggested it was a gift. “He was aware” that she had done “a lot for him,” said the former king’s ex-mistress, who had earlier shared with the Swiss prosecution that in 2012 she was “kidnapped” by the Spanish secret services.
According to Euro Weekly News, she also said in her statement that her personal company, Siam Partner SA, received a several-million-euro loan from Juan Carlos I “to buy two houses” in Villars, a Swiss village, and refurbish them.
The German-born socialite’s testimony was reported as Spain's Supreme Court launched an investigation into former king Juan Carlos, who had managed to smoothly restore the monarchy and democracy in the country after General Franco’s death, over his possibly illegal commissions, connected with a high-speed rail project in Saudi Arabia.
Spanish firms won a €6.7bn deal to build a Mecca-Medina rail link. In the probe, which involves Swiss financial institutions as well, Spanish anti-corruption officials suspect that the king kept some undeclared funds in Switzerland, with the country due to provide relevant documentation, Spain's La Vanguardia reported in June.
"This investigation focuses, precisely, on establishing or discarding the criminal relevance of deeds that happened after June 2014," the Spanish prosecutor's office said. There has been no comment to date from the ex-king himself or his lawyers.