Swiss lawyers have archived the opened criminal administrative file on Dante Canonica, the director of the Panamanian Lucum Foundation, in whose name the account of Juan Carlos I was opened at the Geneva bank Mirabaud & Cie, in which the then head of state received 64.5 million Euro from the Government of Saudi Arabia. The case was closed with no conviction or economic sanction for the lawyer who for years created and directed the opaque structure used to hide the king emeritus’ assets, sources close to the EL PAÍS investigation said.
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Despite the fact that Yves Bertossa, the Swiss prosecutor investigating the case, repeatedly singled out Canonica’s spirit of obfuscation and the rest of those involved in the opening of the account, the creation of the Panamanian Foundation and the movement of the 64.5 million Advocate’s Commission, who opened the file has decided to submit it. These investigations attempted to determine whether the regulations governing lawyers as financial intermediaries had been breached.
The investigation of Canonica’s performance in managing the 64.5 million donated by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance was undertaken by the self-regulatory organization of the Swiss Bar Association (OAR-FSA). This organization brings together more than 11,000 Swiss professionals and takes on the legally required functions in the fight against money laundering. Your inquiries will be overseen by FINMA, a federal agency that regulates and oversees the Swiss financial market (an entity similar to the CNMV in Spain). The files sometimes end in economic sanctions and damage the image of the offices concerned. They are advocates for the OAR who vet their peers and determine if the established criteria are met.
Unprecedented performance
According to the Geneva legal media, Canonica’s performance was not exemplary despite the filing of the file. Swiss prosecutors confirmed that neither Canonica nor Arturo Fasana, external administrator of the account where the 64.5 million were hidden, traveled to Saudi Arabia to verify why that country’s Ministry of Finance on August 8, 2008 on behalf from Saudi Arabia, the Lucum account sent the 64.5 million to Juan Carlos I. The director of Lucum told Bertossa that he trusted the word Fasana when he told him the money was a “pure gift” (pure gift ) from King Abdalá Bin Abdelaziz to his “brother” without verification. He also did not speak to Al Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington, who is said to have shared with Fasana the “gift” Juan Carlos I would receive. Canonica has not informed the institutions prosecuting money laundering in Switzerland about the operation. The director of Lucum also knew that the money had not been declared to the Spanish Treasury.
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Dante Canonica has been indicted for three years by the Bertossa prosecutor for an alleged felony of money laundering filed last December. The representative of the Ministry of State accused the lawyer of his actions as director of the Lucum Foundation. In his deposit order, he highlighted numerous pieces of evidence demonstrating the “spirit of concealment” of Canonica, Fasana and Corinna Larsen, the ex-partner of Juan Carlos I, to whom he transferred the money to an account in Nassau, Bahamas. “The use of a foundation (Lucum) and resident companies by the various protagonists showed a desire to hide,” emphasized Bertossa in his car.
Yves Bertossa talking on the phone at a bank in Geneva, Switzerland in a file image Harold Cunningham (Getty Images)
As well as being Lucum’s Panamanian umbrella, the Swiss lawyer briefed the former head of state on his investments and liquidity, and was aware of the £65 million donation presented by King Emeritus Larsen in June 2012, shortly after the Botswana elephant-hunting scandal broke out. According to his testimony, it was Juan Carlos I who, during a meeting at La Zarzuela Palace, asked him to create a structure to receive “a donation” from Saudi Arabia.
The lawyer is a specialist in financial, corporate and asset management law. He himself founded almost all instrumental companies, at least 12, in tax havens, with which the German consultant has acquired real estate worth millions.
unsolved mystery
The OAR has established that independent lawyers and notaries in Switzerland engaged in financial intermediation are subject to internal codes of conduct approved by this institution. Each office determines its level of risk and requirements based on the profiles of clients. The decisive criteria are whether the person is a PEP (politically exposed person), the amounts to be managed or the position that the client’s country has on the global corruption list. They are advocates for the OAR who vet their peers and determine if the established criteria are met.
An unsolved mystery surrounding Canonica’s actions is why, prior to the closure of Juan Carlos I’s account, 3.5 million was transferred to an account in the name of the Dolphin company by Canonica at the Swiss bank Pictet & Cie in Nassau (Bahamas), the same tax haven where the 65 million that the king emeritus had sent to Larsen were hidden. “I settled my situation before the Geneva Treasury,” the lawyer explained when Bertossa questioned him about this income, which he believes was approved by the then head of state.
Both Canonical and Fasana, who was advised by the former at his asset management company Rhone Gestion, received their fees from Lucum’s account. The first for the management of the foundation and the second for the management of the assets. Canonica, who has just retired and has delegated the management of her office to one of her children, did not respond to the newspaper’s questions on the matter.
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