Spain’s Juan Carlos Said to have Begun ‘Self-exile’ in Abu Dhabi

The Spanish daily ABC is reporting that former king Juan Carlos is staying at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel after leaving Spain on Monday, supposedly over allegations of corruption. Officials from neither the emirate nor the hotel would confirm the report. Juan Carlos had announced his imminent long-term departure from Spain but said nothing about his destination. According to the Spanish paper, a business jet flew on Monday from Paris to Vigo, a city in northwestern Spain, and continued from there to Abu Dhabi. It said the former monarch boarded the aircraft along with four security guards and a fifth unidentified person. It added that upon their arrival in Abu Dhabi, they were taken by helicopter directly to the hotel. While Juan Carlos himself is not under direct investigation, Spain’s Supreme Court announced in June that it was looking into a contract granted to a Saudi Arabian firm for a high-speed rail system. Earlier, a Swiss newspaper claimed in a report that the former king had been given $100 million by the late Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, at the time the Saudi ruler.