The former boyfriend of the former king of Spain, Juan Carlos, told a court in Madrid about the “terrible” moment when he stated that the head of the country’s intelligence services threatened her and her children at the monarch’s behest.
Corinna Larsen told the court that Félix Sanz Roldán met her in London after her relationship with the king ended to warn her that if she did not follow his instructions, he could not guarantee her safety. She claimed that she later returned to her home in Switzerland, where she discovered a book about the death of Princess Diana and later received a cryptic phone call about tunnels, which she considered an allusion to the princess’s fatal accident in 1997.
The charges came during a one-day libel lawsuit brought by Sanz Roldán, the head of intelligence services from 2009-19, against a former police officer, José Manuel Villarejo, whom he claims to have defamed in a 2017 TV interview. in which he said he had threatened Larsen’s life.
Villarejo, who has been in pre-trial detention since 2017 and is awaiting trial on separate charges, including extortion, money laundering and bribery, could face up to two years in prison if convicted of libel and another accusation of filing a false complaint.
Larsen, also known as Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, claims that she was persecuted by Spanish intelligence agencies after ending her relationship with Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 amid declining popularity. She said in a statement to the Madrid court that she had been threatened because she had “information and documents on the financial and business relations of the emeritus king and other members of the royal household”.
Providing evidence via a video link from London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning, Larsen said he believed agents of a security firm acting on behalf of Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) had occupied his home and office in Monaco. in April 2012 and that CNI officers intended to steal his documents, delete computer files and install surveillance equipment.
After being asked to vacate her home and office for five days so that they could be “swept away” by agents, she complained to Juan Carlos. The next day he received an e-mail from a man he thought was Sanz Roldán, the head of the CNI, who claimed that everything was a misunderstanding.
She told the court that Sanz Roldán came to see her a month later at the Connaught Hotel in London, acting at the king’s request.
“The general explained various conditions, instructions and recommendations that I should follow,” Larsen said.
“He said that if I did not follow them, he could not guarantee my physical safety or the physical safety of my children. Of course [the words] it terrified me. I think anyone would be terrified. The fact that the head of the Spanish intelligence services traveled to London to meet me was awful in itself. ”
Larsen then returned home to Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, where he discovered that a copy of a book about Princess Diana’s death had been left on her coffee table.
Early the next day, he told the court, he received a phone call from an unknown number and was told in Spanish that there were “many tunnels between Monaco and Nice”. The phone call, Larson said, brought home “the reality of the threats and danger I was in.”
She said she met with Villarejo in April 2015 after one of her closest friends told her that Villarejo had information about how CNI intended to involve her in criminal activities. During that two-hour meeting, Larsen told her about the Connaught meeting and what she described as the Sanz Roldán threats.
Sanz Roldán denied making any threats when he testified on Friday and said Villarejo’s comments during the TV interview were a lie.
“I have never threatened a woman or a child – never,” he told the court. He said his presence in London in May 2012 was a public matter, but could not say anything because he was subject to the laws governing intelligence. However, he emphasized that the CNI was only allowed to operate in Spanish territory and under Spanish law.
The prosecutor dropped the libel case against Villarejo on Friday, but the state’s attorney did not follow suit.
Juan Carlos announced that he was leaving Spain in August after a series of harmful allegations about his financial arrangements that affected the monarchy and embarrassed his son, King Felipe VI, who stripped him of his annual grant. .
Swiss prosecutors claim that Juan Carlos received a $ 100 million “donation” from the King of Saudi Arabia, which he placed in an offshore account in 2008. Four years later, he allegedly gave $ 65 million. from his account to Larsen.