A British NGO accepts 10 million from a fund in Jersey linked to the emeritus king | Spain

The British Council Refugee (BCR), a discreet UK political refugee aid organization, had decided to accept a €16 million donation from the recently deceased historian Joaquín Romero Maura. The funds came mostly from the JRM 2004 Trust, an opaque financial instrument created on the island of Jersey (English Channel) and linked to Juan Carlos I, according to the concession to EL PAÍS by an official source of the foundation. The origin of these funds were investigated by the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office to determine if the money belonged to the king emeritus.

The decision of the British NGO, weighed by its directors for more than six months, coinciding with the visit that the former head of state has arranged for next week to London where he will have lunch in private with King Carlos III. Later she plans to return to Spain to participate in training for a sailing championship in Sansenxo (Pontevedra).

The donor of the 10 million is Joaquín Romero Maura, the owner (Sir) of the 81-year-old trust, who died last June at the Ballesol nursing home in Zaragoza. A trusted man of the king emeritus, a doctor in History from the University of Oxford, widowed and childless, Romero Maura has testified to the NGO, in addition to this amount, all his assets: balances in a Swiss account and two houses in the United Kingdom (London) and in France (Périgord) with its parking spaces, valued at another 5 million pounds (5,6976,498 euros), according to BCR and confirmed to this newspaper by a relative of the donor.

Internal Investigation

The decision of the British Refugee Council was made after an internal investigation by the NGO itself into the origin of the money and meetings between its directors about the advisability of accepting the million-dollar donation. Tamsin Baxter, Director of Collection and External Affairs at BCR, explains it this way: “Following a robust due diligence process from our trustees, we have decided to accept the generous legal gift of Joaquín Romero Maura. We are delighted that this gift will allow us to make a big difference in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers. We will take great care to ensure that the money is used to the best effect and lasts into the future.”

The NGO confirms that the donation of 10 million will be received annually and progressively, as confirmed by the donor. The trust administrators will enter one million euros each year deposited in accounts at Investec Bank, in Guernsey, another small island of 78 square kilometers, in the English Channel.

an old secret

Romero Maura, who also worked as a banker in London, guarded until his death one of the best kept secrets of the former Head of State: the creation at number 50, La Colombiere Street 2004, in St Helier, the capital of the tiny tax haven of the Channel Islands, of a trust whom they baptized with the initials of their adviser. In his name, 14,923,604 euros were deposited whose origin has not been declared. Maura did not reveal to her two brothers or her close relationship with the king emeritus, nor the existence of these funds, according to a source close to the family.

Ten different banks and administrators handled without questioning their origin the 15 million that came to hoard this trust whose only beneficiary for eight years was Juan Carlos I when he was Head of State, as proven during the internal investigations of these entities. The lack of information about the origin of the money bothered its managers for two decades and none of the internal investigations ended the origin of that fortune. Jersey Zedra Trustees, the last to manage it, decided to continue its management, but to increase its fees due to the reputational risk involved.

discretion and simplicity

The BCR headquarters run by Enver Solomon is located in a discreet three-story glass building in Stratford, East London, about 40 minutes by tube from the center of the London capital. Last November, during a visit to the headquarters of an EL PAÍS editor, Baxter, director of Collection, did not hide his concern about the money procedure. “We do not know why he chose us. We have to know who Mr. Romero Maura was, where the funds came from and why he donated it to us. It is a mandatory procedure when it comes to large amounts, ”he pointed out then. He assured that they would make an autonomous decision, without consulting the British Commission of Charities, and confirm that the NGO has on occasion rejected donations.

The prosecutors of the Supreme Court filed the proceedings on these funds, finding no evidence that currently links The JRM 2004 Trust with Juan Carlos I, “neither in its management nor in the ability to dispose of the funds.” And they stressed that the emeritus king was never his beneficiary nor is there evidence that he received any amount from his accounts.

Romero Maura disposed of the money deposited for the purchase of his homes on several occasions, as confirmed by the investigation of the Prosecutor’s Office based on the testimony of John Ruddy, the manager (protector) of the trust. After the recent death of the historian, it was Ruddy who communicated his will to his two brothers, with whom the deceased could have had a good relationship. He had decided to donate everything to the British NGO.

After the death of his wife, the former Oxford University professor won his home in Switzerland and retired in a town in Périgord, southwestern France. After suffering an illness, he entered a residence in Zaragoza, the city where his brothers reside, where they had the last month of June.

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