Three of Spain's largest firms paid an alleged lover of former King Juan Carlos £4.6million to keep evidence of their affair secret, according to the leaked diaries of disgraced police commissioner.
Repsol, Santander and Telefonica each paid £1.8million to in installments starting in the late 1990s to the country's security service which then passed the money to model and Miss World contestant Barbara Rey, the diaries allege.
The money changed hands after José María Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2006, met with Repsol boss Ramón Blanco Balín and asked him to transfer the funds while assuring him the other firms were also paying up, the diary says.
The pages were uncovered after Emilio Alonso Manglano, the former head of Spain's security service, alleged in his memoirs that Ms Rey had video tapes of her and King Carlos together and had received large sums of money to keep them secret.
Ms Rey, an actress and model, has denied ever receiving money from Juan Carlos or anyone in his circle. None of the companies named in the diary have commented.
Barbara Rey (left in 1970, right in 1980) was allegedly paid £4.6m by Spain's three largest companies starting in the late 90s in order to keep an affair with then-King Juan Carlos a secret
Juan Carlos (pictured with wife Sofia in 2004) is alleged to have been filmed in compromising situations with Ms Rey on cameras hidden at her home during the trysts
Juan Carlos, who abdicated the throne in 2014 and now lives in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi while facing corruption trials at home, has previously denied any wrongdoing and said he is ready to speak with prosecutors.
The diary entries were allegedly penned by José Manuel Villarejo, an undercover cop who is accused of being a 'state fixer' and is currently facing dozens of trials.
Spanish newspaper El Periodico claims to have tracked down the pages, dated from September 2015, after claims that Rey had 'blackmailed' Juan Carlos featured in a recent book by two Spanish journalists and were last week discussed on TV.
On September 27, Villarejo is said to have detailed a meeting he had with Balín - a prominent businessman - in which Balin confessed to the payments.
Juan Carlos is alleged to have been a serial adulterer, with one author claiming he had up to 5,000 mistresses
Villarejo says that Balin told him he was approached by Aznar - a friend from his time working as State Finance Inspector - and told to make six annual payments from Repsol, an energy and pharmaceutical giant, that would total £1.8million.
'[Repsol] gave the money to CESID [the old name for Spain's security service] and they gave the artist,' El Periodico quotes the diary as saying.
Balin was assured that Telefonica, one of the world's largest telephone operators, and Santander, one of the world's largest banks, would be making similar payments, according to the diaries.
While Balin did not state what the payments were for, the diary entry was only tracked down after Alberto Saiz Cortés - head of Spain's modern-day secret service CNI - accused Rey of 'blackmailing' Carlos over an alleged affair.
Cortés spoke about the allegation on Spanish TV show Salvados last week, during which he said the payments 'could have come from "external donors" and not directly from public money.'
He also claimed that Rey was given preferential treatment for
