Spain’s King Juan Carlos is facing questions over a $2.8 million inheritance.
The country’s opposition Socialist Party are demanding to know if the king paid tax on the inheritance, left when his father, Juan, died in 1993.
A spokesperson for the party said: ”The Socialist Party will ask the government if it knew of the inheritance received by King Juan Carlos and if it can tell us if this inheritance was declared to tax officials.”
The inheritance left by Juan totaled 1.1 billion pesetas – equivalent to around $8.5 million – and was located in three bank accounts in Switzerland, where the family had lived for several years. The present king received a share of around $2.8 million.
The country’s ruling Popular Party are less interested in the investigation, with party lawmaker Rafael Hernando saying the issued ”belongs to the past”.
However, the royal palace – which published its first accounts in 2011 as a move toward greater transparency – said it was looking into the issue.
A palace spokesperson said: ”We are searching for information and once we have it we will release it.”
The questioning of the king’s finances comes at a difficult time for the royal family, as the monarch’s son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, is being investigated over claims he has misused million of Euros in public money.
The king has also been heavily criticized for taking part in an elephant hunt in Botswana last year – despite at the time being the president of the Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – where he broke his hip.
Spain is currently in the midst of a huge recession and has an unemployment rate of 26 per cent, leaving many questioning the ruling family’s lifestyle.