Former king fingered by Gürtel boss
Correa claims to have shared a Swiss bank account with Spain’s elite
THE HEAD of the Gürtel corruption network, Francisco Correa told the High Court that he shared a Swiss bank account with former king Juan Carlos I and other Spaniards with ‘large fortunes’.
Correa made the accusations during his testimony in the trial of more than 20 defendants accused of scamming €3.3 million during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Valencia in 2006.
He told the court that his assets in Switzerland were managed by Arturo Fasana, a banking middleman in Geneva who placed the cash in the so-called ‘Soleado’ (sunny) account.
This was money which was ‘obviously not declared in Spain’, he explained.
Correa stated that Sr Fasana had told him that Spain’s richest people ‘who were on the television every day’ had their money in that account
– including the former king.
However, he was told not to ask questions about it,
Correa told the court.
At this point, the judge stopped Correa’s testimony and told him not to make references to the former head of state or other people who were not in the courtroom to defend themselves.
Correa agreed with the judge but added that he had not spoken about this before because he was afraid to do so.
He told the court that he had not been involved with the details of the Pope’s visit, which had been handled by his right-hand man in Valencia, Álvaro Pérez (alias ‘the moustache’).
Correa is standing trial with 22 other suspects and faces a 38-year jail term.
Former speaker in the Valencia parliament Juan Cotino, who was a Partido Popular (PP) strongman, is facing a nine-year prison sentence.
The trial continues.