Spanish Populists Defend Return of Scandal-Plagued Former King

Spanish populist Party VOX has defended the return of abdicated King Juan Carlos after the former monarch had been away from the country for nearly two years after prosecutors dropped financial investigations.

VOX MP Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, the party’s spokesman in the Spanish parliament, defended the return of Juan Carlos to Spain after two years away from the country, stating that the former monarch could return “whenever he wants.”

“He is a person of Spanish nationality who can visit his country whenever he wants, he has nothing to hide despite the continuous attempts of the left to point out and accuse falsely because there is nothing,” Espinosa de los Monteros said, Spanish news service Europa Press reports.
Former King Juan Carlos has been in a self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi since August of 2020 after it was alleged that he had profited from various business dealings with Saudi Arabia, leading current King Felipe VI to renounce his own inheritance as well.

While Spanish investigators had been pursuing at least three investigations into Juan Carlos’ affairs, those investigations were scrapped in March by prosecutors.

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“The public prosecutor wishes to make it clear that, despite the investigation … no criminal action can be taken against His Majesty Juan Carlos de Borbón for the reasons outlined in the decree – basically the lack of incriminating evidence, the statute of limitations, the inviolability of the head of state, and tax regularisation,” the public prosecutor said.

Juan Carlos is expected to arrive in Spain this weekend and travel to Galacia and Madrid, where it is also expected the former King will have a meeting with his son, King Filipe VI.

The monarchy in Spain is a contested issue among some who believe the country should become a republic, with leftist parties such as Podemos and others giving their support to an unofficial citizen consultation on the subject that took place on Saturday.

Just over 80,000 people took part in the vote, which was labelled illegal by VOX, with over 90 per cent of those who voted wanting Spain to become a republic.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.