Subject: Lack of investigation regarding Spanish Crown’s implication in a money laundering case
Spain’s former king is investigated in Switzerland for money laundering and bribery related to high-speed rail construction in Saudi Arabia*. According to The Telegraph, the present king is also implicated in alleged illegal activities: he is the beneficiary of an offshore fund recipient of donations from the king of Saudi Arabia? and his honeymoon was paid with funds (USD 467,000) of unclear origin?.
The Spanish Supreme Court has opened an inquiry. However, such inquest will not investigate the activities of the present king or those of his father prior to his abdication in 2014“, on the grounds that the Spanish kings’ are inviolable in all their activities, public and private. Furthermore, the Spanish parliament has refused to investigate”.
Does the EC share the view that inviolability of heads of state applies to private activities? Would that be compatible with the equality before the law set forth in article 20 of the CFR?
Given the Commission’s “zero tolerance” for illicit money* and the call of the Parliament for “Member States to investigate fully and in a transparent manner all reported cases of money laundering””, how does the EC plan to take action to ensure that this major case is investigated?
