Corinna Larsen, the German businesswoman who was once involved in a romantic relationship with King Emeritus of Spain Juan Carlos I, was once a co-owner of a business in a tax haven with Mexican entrepreneur Allen Sanginés-Krause. The latter is under investigation by the prosecutor of the Spanish Supreme Court for having made payments to Juan Carlos, which were not declared to the Spanish tax authorities.

Evidence that reveals this hitherto unknown connection between Larsen and Sangines-Krause can be found among the Pandora Papers, a massive leak of 11.9 documents from 14 offshore service providers. The investigation was coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and counted on the participation of EL PAÍS and the TV channel La Sexta in Spain. The leak spans five decades of documentation and helps reconstruct operations carried out by politicians, multimillionaires, criminals and elite sports figures in countries and territories generally considered tax havens due to their confidential approach to sharing. tax information and the low tax rates offered to foreign capital.

The company in question was called Fortuna Ventures Ltd. and was registered in Seychelles on October 1, 2009. Larsen used his company Apollonio Holdings to create the company, while Sanginés-Krause used Montpascal Holdings, a company to which he was related. Documents held by EL PAÍS show that these two companies are shareholders of Fortuna Ventures Ltd., and that Larsen was its director. Neither responded to requests sent by the consortium about the disclosures.

Until yesterday, the Seychelles was considered one of the most used tax havens by fraudsters on the planet. But the European Union removed it from its blacklist on Tuesday. Foreign companies registered in the archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean, are tax exempt and do not need to provide a minimum capital to register a company. There is also no obligation to publicly register the names of company directors, according to an international trade law in force since 1994.

For many years, Larsen worked as a consultant and fixer in international companies through another of his companies, Apollonia Associates, based in the micro-state of Monaco on the French Riviera. Swiss prosecutor Yves Bertossa is investigating Larsen for an alleged money laundering offense for receiving 64.8 million euros in a bank account she held in the Bahamas, which was transferred from a Swiss account held by Juan Carlos I.

Speaking to the prosecutor in 2018, and as revealed by EL PAÍS, she cited the name of Apolonia Associates. She also confirmed that in 2004 she started her consultancy work for Apollonia Associates with jobs for Richemond and Volkswagen “which had nothing to do with Juan Carlos I”.

However, his company Apollonia Holdings GMBH was not known until now. The company was created by the Panamanian law firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal), which has created a constant flow of opaque structures and shell companies in order to hide fortunes from around the world, according to the survey by Pandora Papers.

On November 19, 2010, Larsen was appointed Director and Secretary of Apolonia Holdings GMBH, a shell company, replacing Andrés Maximino Sánchez.

On June 2, 2010, Apollonia Holdings GMBH issued an invoice for € 30,000 for Montpascal Advisory Services, the Sanginés company, without specifying what it was used for. The invoice was sent to Montpascal Advisory Services at Kirua Castle, an imposing castle near Clonmellon in Ireland. This property was visited by the King Emeritus.

The public prosecutor at the Supreme Court of Spain opened three avenues of investigation against the King Emeritus. One of them is based on a report by Spain’s financial intelligence unit, Sepblac, which warned that Mexican businessman Allen Sanginés-Krause made three bank transfers between 2017 and 2018 to Nicolás Murga Mendoza , former colonel of the air force and assistant to Juan. Carlos I. Some of these payments were transferred to accounts held by members of the Spanish Royal Family and others around them, who accessed these amounts through credit cards.

The public prosecutor took a statement from the 61-year-old Mexican businessman, as well as from Murga Mendoza. The Sangines claimed that they were “gifts” made to the King Emeritus, given their friendship.

Juan Carlos I made a voluntary adjustment to the Spanish tax authorities of € 678,393 as the money received from Sanginés-Krause had not been declared. It emerged on Wednesday that the prosecutor planned to dismiss the three cases against the King Emeritus that were under investigation.

During the years that there was a relationship between Larsen and the then King, the two regularly spent time with Sangines-Krause, at parties and other private celebrations, but until now the commercial ties between him and the German consultant were not common knowledge.

Major purchases

Sanginés-Krause, the founder of investment group BK Partners and a former senior executive at US bank Goldman Sachs, is little known in his home country, Mexico, despite having made significant purchases in the real estate sector. like the Four Seasons hotel. . He acquired the luxury Mayakoba resort in Cancun, as well as the Villa Magna hotel in Madrid, where he usually stays during his visits to the Spanish capital.

The Pandora Papers also revealed that in 2007, Larsen expected managers in New Zealand of a trust called Peregrine to arrange that in the event of death, 30% of the income of the so-called Saudi Investment Fund. Spanish would be bequeathed to Juan Carlos I. The fund was supported by the then king and she had also worked for him. The documents, which were unsigned, were created on March 27, 2007, 14 days before the Spanish Saudi Investment Fund registered in Guernsey, another tax haven. Larsen’s attorney said these documents are false.