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Judge Charges Spanish Princess With Tax Fraud Judge Charges Spanish Princess With Tax Fraud
(about 7 hours later)
PARIS — In a deepening scandal for the Spanish royal family, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos was charged on Tuesday with money laundering and tax fraud by a judge who ruled there was evidence she had committed crimes. PARIS — Princess Cristina, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos of Spain, was formally accused of money laundering and tax fraud by a magistrate on Tuesday and was summoned to appear in court March 8. She is the first close relative of a Spanish monarch in modern history to face the prospect of a criminal trial.
Princess Cristina, 48, was summoned to appear in court on March 8 as part of a 200-page ruling from José Castro, an examining magistrate from Palma de Mallorca. The accusations arise from a long-running corruption investigation that has also ensnared the princess’s husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, a businessman and former Olympic handball athlete who is fighting charges of fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement. Both the princess and Mr. Urdangarin, who has been accused of embezzling €6 million ($8.2 million) in government money though a foundation he set up to organize sports conferences, have publicly denied the charges.
The charges are part of the investigation of a corruption scandal that has also ensnared the princess’s husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, a businessman and former Olympic handball athlete, who is also fighting charges of fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement of 6 million euros, or about $8 million, in government money though his nonprofit foundation that organized sports conferences. José Castro, an examining magistrate from Palma de Mallorca, lodged the accusations against the princess in a 200-page ruling on Tuesday.
The princess and Mr. Urdangarin have publicly denied the charges, but the case has undermined the royal family, with a new poll by Sigma Dos showing that a broad majority of Spaniards believe the monarchy has mishandled the case and that 62 percent support the abdication of the aging king. The widely publicized investigation has badly dented the standing of the royal family with the public. A new poll by Sigma Dos found that a broad majority of Spaniards believe the monarchy mishandled the case, and that more than three-fifths of them think the king, who is 76, should abdicate.
The case against Princess Cristina has been marked by public differences among the authorities. The magistrate’s ruling on Tuesday challenged the recommendations of an anticorruption prosecutor who last month insisted there was no evidence that she had committed crimes. Juan Carlos appeared on crutches Monday at a military parade, his first public event since hip surgery in November. He said in his annual Christmas message that he was determined “to continue the faithful fulfillment of the mandate and the powers attributed to me.”
Judge Castro has been pursuing the investigation for more than three years and has heard testimony from more than 300 witnesses, including high-ranking politicians. For months, he has been concentrating on the personal finances of Princess Cristina. The case against Princess Cristina, 48, has been marked by public sparring among legal authorities. Mr. Castro’s ruling on Tuesday challenged the recommendations of an anticorruption prosecutor, who said last month that there was no evidence the princess had committed crimes. Mr. Castro, who has been pursuing the investigation for more than three years, accused the princess once before, only to have the accusations set aside by a higher court, which gave more time to Mr. Castro to investigate.
Both the princess and her husband have halted public appearances and she moved last year to Geneva with their four children, where she works for a Spanish bank’s foundation. He has been concentrating on the personal finances of the princess for the last nine months, including her purchase of a mansion in Barcelona, which was seized by the court along with other properties in November after her husband failed to post a €6 million ($8.2 million) bond.
The ruling on Tuesday was the second time that the magistrate has charged the princess with wrongdoing. The earlier accusations were rejected last May by a high court that concluded there was not enough evidence. But Judge Castro continued to investigate the tax fraud allegations. The princess was a director of her husband’s institute, and the couple jointly owned a real estate company, Aizoon, which investigators suspect was a front for money laundering and tax evasion. In his ruling, Mr. Castro cited evidence that the princess had charged questionable expenses like dinnerware and dance lessons to the organizations.