KING Felipe VI of Spain has relinquished the inheritance from his father Juan Carlos and has decided to halt his income from the royal household after the scandal surrounding money-laundering allegations in Switzerland grew.
Swiss prosecutors are investigating Carlos over an account with the private bank Mirabaud in the name of the Lucum Foundation, in which €65 million (£59m) was deposited from Saudi Arabia, as previously reported by The National. It has now emerged that Felipe is named as a second beneficiary on the account.
In a statement, the royal house said: “Felipe VI renounces the inheritance that may correspond to him personally, as well as any asset, investment or financial structure whose origin, characteristics or purpose may not be in accordance with the law or with the criteria of rectitude and integrity that govern his institutional and private activity.”
It went on to say that Felipe himself had no record appearing as a beneficiary of any foundation abroad and added that it would have been done against his will and without his consent.
However, it admitted that last year a British law firm contacted La Zarzuela – the Spanish equivalent of Buckingham Palace – to notify them about it and added that Felipe went to a notary to expressly waive any benefit from Carlos’s accounts.
Spain welcomed Felipe’s “forcefulness” in renouncing any economic inheritance from his father. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, praised his decision but said Spaniards should be allowed to know what had happened.
Gabriel Rufián, from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), said the royal statement was “a full-blown confession”.
However, Albert Ruda, dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Girona, said Felipe could still end up accepting his father’s inheritance.
He told broadcaster TV3: “If tomorrow there is an inheritance when his father dies, King Felipe could perfectly accept it. He would not be bound by the resignation he says he has done now. Legally it has no effect, it has no validity.”
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