136 Izar Fortuna
Back in June, we told you about a dispute in Spain over the 136-foot Izar Fortuna. She was built in 2000 for King Juan Carlo of Spain, and he was trying to give her back because it didn’t look very good to have him owning a yacht with the nation’s unemployment rate inching toward 30 percent.
Now, the king has renounced the yacht as a gesture of frugality — but the move is going to end up costing taxpayers a pretty euro. A court has ruled that Fortuna‘s crew were illegally dismissed, and that they are owed back pay and damages of about $1.6 million.
Court proceedings revealed that the captain had a salary of €138,000, almost double that of the prime minister, even though he took the boat out only once during all of 2012, according to The Guardian. He will receive a payout equal to nearly a year’s salary, while each of seven crew members will get more than €100,000 apiece.
That’s some nice government work if you can get it.
