Former King Juan Carlos being investigated for €6.7billion contract to build high-speed rail line in Saudi Arabia

Spain’s supreme court prosecutor has launched an investigation into the role the country’s former king, Juan Carlos, played in a deal in which a Spanish consortium landed a €6.7bn contract to build a high-speed rail line in Saudi Arabia.

Reports emerged in March suggesting Juan Carlos received a €88m payment from Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah in 2008, three years before the contract was awarded.

Subsequent revelations about the former king’s financial dealings led his son, King Felipe VI, to strip his father of his annual fixed allowance.