MADRID: Spain's former king Juan Carlos, who left his homeland under a cloud of scandal in August, has settled a back tax bill worth over €678,000 (US$817,871) including interest and fines, his lawyers said on Wednesday (Dec 9).

The lawyers, in a statement, provided no details on what the back taxes were for. But the newspaper El Pais said earlier the former monarch sought to settle certain alleged illegal credit card transactions with the revenue service to avoid being charged in an investigation and to be able to return to Spain.