Two foreign companies imposed by Saudi Arabia directed the Saudi Hispanic Infrastructure Fund created in 2007 during the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and with the support of the then King Juan Carlos I, as they have indicated to El País, former Spanish officials who participated in its launch.The Fund hired Corinna Larsen and established its headquarters in Guernsey, a fiscal refuge in the Islands of the Channel of La Mancha.

The examination of King Emeritus requested in 2007 the administrators of the Peregrine Trust, in New Zealand, who in the event of his death will deliver Juan Carlos I “30% of the income from the Saudi Spanish Investment Fund”, as recorded inThe documents of the Pandora papers, an investigation piloted by the International Consortium of Research Journalists (ICIJ), in which the country and the sixth have participated.This work analyzes the secret archives of 14 law firms and reveals instrumental societies of politicians, businessmen and artists from more than 90 countries.Larsen's lawyer states that Peregrine Trust documents are false.The consultant has not answered the questions of this consortium about their contractual relationship with the aforementioned fund.

The trust or trustee is a particularly opaque instrument.This is a contract in which the testator entrusted his assets or part of this to the good faith of a legal representative (trust) so that, in case and time, it transmits it to another person or invests it according to the instructions received.Trusts are usual tools among the instruments offered by Swiss banks for clients seeking opacity and tax evasion.

The initiative for the creation of the Saudi Hispanic Infrastructure Fund was from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in front of which Miguel Ángel Moratinos was, and Juan Carlos I himself, but the project management was carried out by two foreign companies: the Cheyne Capital British fund, based in London, and Arox Infrastructures AG in Zurich (Switzerland), a company specialized in infrastructure.

Cheyne Capital allegedly hired Corinna Larsen for this project and presented her as her collaborator in meetings in Madrid, according to people who participated in the project.The British fund has not answered the questions sent by this newspaper.“They told us that she worked for them and that she would talk to investors.We didn't know anything about her tasks or who she talked to, ”says a knowledgeable source of the launch of the background.

“We never knew it was hired.She appeared as a possible investor and said she would bring money from other funds.Nor did we know about her relationship with the king, ”says a former Zapatero government minister who participated in the embryo of this initiative.

The institutional support of Spain and Saudi Arabia at the launch of the fund was total.The ambassadors of the two countries facilitated different meetings of executives of Cheyne Capital, from Banco Morgan Stanley and Corinna Larsen itself with the authorities of both countries, according to one of its participants.In June 2007, Riad's press echoed a visit by the German consultant, in the company of the Spanish ambassador Manuel Alabart, Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal, according to Eldiario.es.

Larsen on stage

On June 19, 2007, days after his trip to Riad, Larsen attended El Pardo Palacio to the official presentation of the Fund in an act attended by the then Minister of Industry Joan Clos, Saudi Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ben-Abdul Aziz Al-Hassaf, and the president of the CEOE Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, among other authorities and representatives of the political and business world."They presented it to me on the spot and he told me:‘ This is a very important project for Spain, "recalls a senior Spanish official of the fleeting meeting with the German consultant.

That same day, Juan Carlos I imposed on the king of Saudi Arabia Abdalá Bin Abdelazziz El Toisón de Oro, during his visit to Madrid.In his speech at the Gala dinner at the Royal Palace, Juan Carlos I praised the Spanish-Saudí Fund project.

Anybody Know How to Hack The System and Open An Australian Bank Account Overseas?

— ugly fat neck boi Fri Jan 01 11:07:44 +0000 2021

The British Fund Cheyne Capital hired the American Investment Bank Morgan Stanley so that its executives in Madrid, London and Riad made the presentations and captured companies to provide liquidity for the creation of the fund, according to a source of the banking sector.The promise was to participate in a gigantic infrastructure plan provided for in Saudi Arabia whose amount amounted to several billion dollars.

“In a first phase, the objective was to lift 500 million dollars, 250 for Spanish companies and another 250 of Saudi capital.There was talk with several banks to finance the future investments of the fund.If you get 500 capital, about 4,000 debt could be obtained, ”recalls a financial executive who participated in the launch.

A background brochure was published, and Morgan Stanley made different presentations.Around 14 Spanish companies, including OHL, Sacyr, Caja Madrid (Bankia) and La Mutua, among others, they promised to contribute about 200 million, but the Saudi capital promised did not exceed 100 million.“The Saudi part did not work and the Spanish companies said: either none.The crisis of 2008 and 2009 ended the project and, finally, nobody came to put what had committed, ”says one of the participants.

The Saudi Hispanic Infrastructure Fund was recorded in Saint Peter Port, capital of Guernsey, an island of the La Mancha Canal of about 70,000 inhabitants, whose head of state is Queen Elizabeth II of England.Like Jersey, Man or Sark, other channel islands, its economy is based on financial services and is considered a fiscal paradise."At that time, it was normal for all the issuing in the capital markets to do it there to take advantage of low taxation," says one of the sources consulted.

Stuart Fiertz and Jonathan Lourie, founders of Cheyne Capital and former director of Morgan Stanley, directed the helm of this project, traveled several times to Spain and participated in different meetings with Spanish executives, as recalled the sources consulted.On occasion, they did it in the company of Larsen and presented her as her collaborator.

Fiertz was one of the directors of the Energy and Infrastructure G.P Limited Fund, created in Guernsey on April 10, 2007 and closed on August 23, 2012. The British Investment Fund used to make its company Cheyne Equity Partners, based in headquarters in headquarters inTortola, another fiscal paradise in the British Virgin Islands, which appears as owner of 8,000 shares.In the name of Boreas Capital Limited, domiciled in Guernsey, another 8,000 shares were registered.

By Arox Infrastructure Ag, the other motor company of the project, went to meetings in Madrid Ludovico Manfredi and Eberhard von Koerber, as the witnesses consulted remember.Both also appear in the organization chart of the aforementioned fund created in Guernsey, as this newspaper has verified in the Island Companies Registry.Both Cheyne Capital and Arox wanted to invest in the projects that the Fund would execute.

Saudi imposition

Who decided that two foreign companies such as Cheyne Capital and Arox Infrastructures directed the Hispanic-Saudí Fund?“We thought about getting a public, transparent and competitive contest, but the Saudi said they had to be those two companies.No one from the Spanish administration participated in that, ”recalls a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce who was at the launch.

“The Saudi representative commented that to carry a project of that size, a worldwide financial entity was needed and chose Morgan Stanley.The Spanish administration did not participate in the management of contracts, managers and others, because that dominated the Saudis.We didn't know anything because we didn't put anything in, not a euro.With Larsen we had no meetings because we did not give projects, ”explains this source.

In 2010, Cheyne and Arox managers convened a meeting in Madrid with Spanish companies committed to the project to inform them of the closing of the fund.In it, the expenses in which several million euros on trips, meetings, lawyers and efforts that were "prorated" among all had been incurred.“I think it closed in 2010, I'm not sure.Spanish companies paid something.The expenses were not too burdensome, ”says a source close to the project.Other sources close to affected companies ensure, however, the expenses amounted to about 16 million.

Some of the Spanish firms that participated in the project recognize their initial commitment, but none of those consulted has provided to this newspaper the figure they finally paid when the fund was closed.