CATALAN LEADER BLASTS ‘SCANDAL’ OF EX-KING’S EXIT

MADRID Catalonia’s separatist leader said on Friday that the abrupt departure abroad by Spain’s former king Juan Carlos, whose whereabouts have yet to be officially confirmed, was a farce.

The royal palace said four days ago that the former monarch had decided to leave the country amid a cloud of scandals. This has left the door open to an international guessing game about where the 82-yearold could be, with Spanish media placing him in Portugal, the Dominican Republic and Abu Dhabi.

“Neither Spaniards nor Catalans deserve such a loud and ridiculous scandal on an international scale,” Catalonia’s leader, Quim Torra, told the regional parliament in a special session he called to discuss the monarchy.

The northeastern Spanish region’s separatist leaders want to build a Catalan republic that would break away from Spain, and the scandal is an opportunity for them to push their anti-monarchy agenda. Catalans are split over independence.

In a letter published on Monday by the royal palace, Juan Carlos said he was leaving the country so his son King Felipe’s reign would not be troubled by his woes.

While not formally under investigation, Juan Carlos is at the heart of two probes in Spain and Switzerland over suspicions surrounding a multi-billion high-speed Saudi train contract won by Spanish firms.

Spain’s Supreme Court prosecutor opened a preliminary probe in June to decide whether to extend a corruption investigation into the train contract to the former monarch.

Via his lawyer, Juan Carlos has denied comment on the allegations.