Spain's King Felipe declines inheritance due to scandal involving father

March 16 (UPI) -- Spain's King Felipe VI has renounced his personal inheritance from his scandal-plagued father, the former King Juan Carlos I, who's being investigated for accepting illegal kickbacks.

Felipe said Sunday he's also stripping his 82-year-old father of an annual $215,000 stipend as investigators from Spain and Switzerland are looking into the source of funds held by Panamanian-registered foundations tapped in the past by the former king for personal expenses.

Felipe said he made the move after learning that he is a beneficiary of one of the foundations -- something he had no knowledge of, the royal household said.

Prosecutors say The foundation, Lucum, took a $100 million payment from Saudi Arabia in 2007, and authorities suspect the money was paid into the foundation as a kickback for a contract to build the AVE high-speed rail link to Mecca.

Some $65 million from one of the foundations went to businesswoman Corrine Larson of Monaco, whose personal relationship with Juan Carlos was exposed in 2012 after he was injured during a hunting accident with her in Botswana.

Larson's attorneys said she received the money as an unsolicited gift from Juan Carlos after she cared for him when he was in ill health. The revelation of the relationship damaged the monarch's reputation.

After he abdicated in 2014, Felipe launched a campaign to regain the royal family's standing in part by promising transparency in all of its financial dealings.