It is a continuing disgrace that time and time again it is left to the foreign press to call on Spanish authorities to stop covering up the corruption of the country's monarchy and open an investigation into the revelations about money hidden in Switzerland by former king Juan Carlos I. In a French-language editorial this weekend, major Swiss newspaper Tribune de Genève has called for the public to be told how much money the Bourbon king received in the four decades that he was Spain's head of state, and in particular, why he received it. The Spanish royal house is shrouded in silence, the paper concludes.
It is obvious that the pandemic and the tens of thousands of deaths have taken the media spotlight away from the scandal of Juan Carlos I and the image of a monarch who as head of state of a European country went here and there with briefcases full of banknotes allegedly from commissions he had just been paid. His private banker stated as much, and, consequently, little else needs to be added. Since this became known there has been no statement from the king emeritus or his son, the reigning Felipe VI, there has only been a brief statement in which he tried to distance himself somewhat, as he appears as the ultimate beneficiary of the astronomical sums.
Spain's pro-constitutional political bloc has closed down any possibility of a parliamentary commission on the matter, gagging any option for the public to find out what happened. It may be the only thing they can do, but the drip-feeding of news and further cases will be incessant in the future. In addition, the economic crisis, which will be very harsh and very cruel, will coexist badly with corruption at the highest level of the state. Maybe that's why Juan Carlos I has already been made to disappear while still alive from public acts and has gone from being the smiling grandfather to being forgotten.
But the dossier on the corruption of the royal family exists. What's missing is justice and it’s time to uncover the cake, says Tribune de Genève. But the deep state has already shut down the issue: Spain is neither ready nor willing for this to see the light.