SPANISH singing legend Julio Iglesias has issued a statement where he has denied sexually abusing two former domestic employees who have filed a criminal complaint against him.
That followed a denial he made in a phone call to Hola! magazine on Wednesday.
Prosecutors at the National Court in Madrid have opened a probe into the complaint which a rights group said involved human trafficking for forced labour and servitude, sexual abuse and violations of workers’ rights.
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The incidents are alleged to have happened at the 82-year-old singer’s mansions in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
The Iglesias statement issued on social media said: “It is with profound sadness that I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked for me.”
He added: “I have never felt such malice, but I still have the strength to let people know the whole truth and defend my dignity against such a serious accusation.”
The singer also thanked the ‘so many dear people who have sent me messages of affection and loyalty’, adding: “I have found great comfort in them.”
Women’s Link Worldwide filed a complaint on January 5 on behalf of the two women, identified by the pseudonyms Rebeca and Laura, after a three-year investigation by American broadcaster Univision and the Spanish online portal, elDiario.es.
The group described the complainants as young Latin American women ‘in vulnerable situations who were heavily dependent on their wages due to their economic and social conditions’.
They worked for Iglesias for 10 months in 2021.
A friend of the singer, Jaime Peñafiel, branded the accusations as ‘absolute lies’, while another confidant, journalist Miguel Angel Pastor, said he had never heard ‘any suggestion that he might have committed this kind of act’.
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