THE WORLD TODAY

Fresh probe into former Spanish king

SUPREME Court prosecutors in Spain have opened a third corruption investigation involving former king Juan Carlos I, officials have said. Attorney general Dolores Delgado and top anti- corruption prosecutor Alejandro Luzon told reporters the probe is still at an “embryonic” stage, the news agency Europa Press reported.

They said the investigation was triggered by “financial information” but declined to elaborate.

Earlier this week, prosecutors announced a second investigation into the former monarch’s finances.

The announcement came after Spanish online daily elDiario. es reported that anti- corruption prosecutors were probing the alleged use by the former king, ex- queen Sofia and other members of the royal family of credit cards linked to foreign accounts not in their names.

Juan Carlos was already the target of official investigations in Spain and Switzerland for possible financial wrongdoing, inquiries which prompted him to leave Spain in August. He wrote in a published letter to his son, King Felipe VI, that he was moving abroad due to the “public repercussions of certain episodes of my past private life”.

The investigations have embarrassed the royal household and brought low the former monarch who once was held in high esteem.

Juan Carlos played a key role in

Spain’s transition to democratic rule in the 1970s, when he replaced General Francisco Franco as the country’s head of state.

But his luxurious life and corruption scandals tarnishing members of the royal family provided a striking contrast with the hardship of Spaniards during the 2008 global financial crisis. He abdicated in 2014.