スペイン国王、不正疑惑の前国王への手当剥奪　相続資産も放棄へ

【マドリードＡＦＰ＝時事】スペインの国王フェリペ6世（52）は15日、マネーロンダリング（資金洗浄）への関与が取り沙汰されている前国王で父のフアン・カルロス1世（82）に対する王室手当を剥奪し、前国王からの相続財産を放棄すると発表した。父のスキャンダルから距離を置く姿勢を示したものとみられる。（写真はフェリペ6世〈左〉と父のフアン・カルロス1世）
　スイスの日刊紙トリビューン・ド・ジュネーブは今月に入り、フアン・カルロス１世がサウジアラビアからオフショア口座を通じて１億ドル（約１０７億円）を受け取っていたと報じていた。
　同紙によると、受け取った金はパナマの財団名でスイスの銀行口座に預けられていた。総額のうち６５００万ドル（約７０億円）は、フアン・カルロス１世から元愛人のコリーナ・ツー・ザインビトゲンシュタインさんに送金されていた。
　後に英紙デーリー・テレグラフは、フェリペ６世もフアン・カルロス１世在任中に設立された同財団基金の受益者であったと報道している。
　ただ王室が１５日に発表した内容によると、フェリペ６世は昨年４月、公証人に対して問題の財団からは一切金を受け取らないと明言しているという。
　またフェリペ６世は、自身が財団の受益者に指名されていたことを全く知らなかったと述べているという。報道によると、この財団はフアン・カルロス１世の自家用ジェットのフライト費用として数百万ユーロを支払っていた。
　さらに王室の発表によるとフェリペ６世は、違法な、もしくは王室の品位を損なう可能性があるいかなる資産や株、投資も放棄するという。
　スペインのメディアによれば、これまでフアン・カルロス１世は国から１９万４０００ユーロ（約２３００万円）以上の年間手当を受け取っていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/17-13:00）

King Felipe VI of Spain moved Sunday to distance himself from his scandal-hit father, stripping him of his palace allowance and renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.
The announcement came after reports earlier this month in the Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve that former monarch Juan Carlos had received 100 million dollars (90 million euros) from Saudi Arabia via an offshore account.
The money was lodged in a Swiss bank account in the name of a Panamanian foundation, the paper reported, according to which $65 million of that sum was given by Juan Carlos to his former mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
A later report in Britain's Daily Telegraph said that 52-year-old King Felipe was also a beneficiary of the fund, which it said had been set up when Juan Carlos was still on the throne.
In the palace statement released Sunday, the reigning king said that in April he had made it clear to a notary that he would accept no money from the foundation in question.
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.
The statement said King Felipe was renouncing any assets, shares or investments that might be either illegal or compromise the royal family's integrity.
Spanish media reports say Juan Carlos has until now received an annual allowance from the state of more than 194,000 euros ($216,000).
- Growing pressure from the left -
The reaction from leftwing parties Sunday evening suggested that for them, at least, it was not enough.
On Twitter, economist Carlos Sanchez Mato of the United Left party, called on the king to renounce everything he stood to inherit from his father -- including his role as head of state.
On Tuesday, the Spanish parliament decided against launching an investigation into suspected money laundering by the former king.
Spain's hard-left Podemos party had called for it after reports earlier this month that in 2008 Juan Carlos received $100 million from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah via the Swiss account of an entity listed in Panama.
Podemos, which is part of the ruling coalition with Pedro Sanchez's Socialist Party, is avowedly republican.
Juan Carlos, now 82, came to the throne after the death of the military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and is widely respected for having favoured a transition to democracy.
But he lost his immunity from prosecution after handing power to his son, Felipe, in June 2014 following a 39-year reign.
He resigned from public life last year after a series of scandals about his private life.
In 2012, he outraged Spaniards by going elephant hunting in Botswana at the height of the country's recession.
But he is not the only Spanish royal to have been caught up in a scandal.
In 2018, King Felipe's brother-in-law Inaki, the husband of Princess Cristina, was jailed for more than five years for siphoning off millions of euros from a foundation he ran in the island of Majorca.