Joaquín Romero Maura

Joaquín Romero Maura   (historian)
Born	1940 Nice, France
Died	5 June 2022 (Age 81) Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Alma mater	University of Barcelona, Oxford University/St Antony's College
Interests	Juan Carlos I
Relatives	Miguel Maura Gamazo

Joaquín Romero Maura was a Spanish historian who spent most of his life in the UK.

Mystery trust fund

A one-time Oxford Don has been named as mystery beneficiary of a €10 million trust fund in the Channel Islands linked to the disgraced former king Juan Carlos of Spain. Spanish prosecutors want to question Joaquín Romero Maura, 81, a respected author and former history professor at St Antony's College, after discovering the Jersey fund while investigating Juan Carlos' unexplained wealth. But Mr Maura, who is the only person who could legally authorise a transfer of the funds, may not be able to testify after he was traced to a Zaragoza care home, where he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Mr Maura, great-grandson of a five-time prime minister of Spain, lived in the UK for most of his life and co-directed the Iberian Centre with the illustrious historian Sir Raymond Carr. The Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial cites court sources as confirming that Mr Romero Maura’s name appears as the sole trustee of a fund in Jersey. The fund was set up in the 1990s by a close aide of then King Juan Carlos, Manuel Prado y Colón de Carvajal, who was later jailed for embezzlement. For reasons that remain unclear, Mr Romero Maura was named as a fund trustee.

It is thought that the Jersey fund holds cash from the Kuwait government offered as a sweetener for the Spanish government's support for the coalition against Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. Juan Carlos is also being investigated over the receipt of a $100m “gift” from a former Saudi king, which was concealed in a Panamanian fund whose second beneficiary was his son, King Felipe. According to sources close to the investigation, prosecutors have detected a recent movement of money from the fund in Jersey and that the “presumed recipient” of the movements was the former king, although the transfer was not in his name, but that of a third party. Former king Juan Carlos’s lawyer has said he denies any connection with the Jersey fund.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1979	27 April 1979	29 April 1979	Austria Baden Clubhotel Schloss Weikersdorf	27th Bilderberg, 95 guests, Austria

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References

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