Spanish princess stands trial
Print Edition
SPAIN’S Princess Cristina and her husband went on trial yesterday under intense global media scrutiny in a landmark corruption case that has outraged the country and sullied the monarchy’s reputation.
The 50-year-old mother-of-four with a master’s degree from New York University is the first Spanish royal to face criminal charges since the monarchy was reinstated following the 1975 death of dictator General Francisco Franco.
The princess and her husband — former Olympic handball medalist Inaki Urdangarin — arrived together at a makeshift courtroom in Palma on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca as photographers snapped pictures and a police helicopter flew overhead.
Following courtroom rules, they had to sit apart as judges read out the alleged crimes committed by the total of 18 suspects in the case, which alleges that Urdangarin embezzled public funds through a foundation he once chaired.
Cristina has been charged with tax evasion while her husband is accused of the more serious crimes of embezzlement, influence peddling, document falsification, money laundering, forgery, breach of official duty and tax fraud.
Almost immediately after the trial opened, Cristina’s lawyers called for the case against her to be thrown out.
Prosecutors have always refused to press charges against her, but under Spanish law, private entities can also file criminal complaints, and that is just what anti-graft campaigners “Manos Limpias,” or “Clean Hands,” did.
Cristina’s lawyers cited Spanish jurisprudence, which allows an accused to escape trial if the victim of a crime does not back the charges — and in this case the alleged victim is the state.
However, Virginia Lopez Negrete, the lawyer representing “Manos Limpias,” rejected the argument, saying “all citizens are equal before the law” and that “anachronistic doctrines cannot be applied” that would “privilege” the princess.
The case is centred on business dealings by the Noos Institute, a charitable organization based in Palma, which Urdangarin founded and chaired from 2004 to 2006.
The 47-year-old and his former business partner Diego Torres are suspected of embezzling 6.2 million euros (US$6.7 million) in public funds provided by two regional governments to fund sporting and other events.
Urdangarin is also accused of using his royal connections to secure inflated contracts and siphoning off some of the money into Aizoon, a firm he jointly ran with his wife Cristina, to fund a lavish lifestyle.
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