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Spanish king’s sister to stand trial on tax fraud charges Spanish king’s sister to stand trial on tax fraud charges
(about 5 hours later)
Cristina de Borbón, sister of King Felipe VI of Spain, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of tax fraud, according to the Balearic Islands high court. Cristina de Borbón, sister of King Felipe VI of Spain, will stand trial on charges of tax fraud – the first Spanish royal to face prosecution in court.
The request on Monday prolongs the embarrassment of the royal family, which has sought to distance itself from a corruption inquiry. The development caps the Spanish royal family’s most tumultuous year since the monarchy was restored after the death of Franco in 1975.
The charges were brought as part of an investigation into the business dealings of Borbón’s husband, former Olympic handball player Iñaki Urdangarin, accused of embezzling millions in public funds through his non-profit organisation, the Noos Foundation. Judge José Castro has now concluded his four-year investigation into the dealings of a company partly owned by Cristina’s husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, finally deciding to press charges against the princess relating to the fiscal years of 2007 and 2008. Urdangarin has been charged with breach of legal duty, embezzling public funds, fraud, influence-peddling and money-laundering.
It will be the first time a member of the Spanish royal family sits in the dock. Borbón and her husband have denied wrongdoing. Cristina and Urdangarin are among 17 people who will go on trial, possibly late next year, for offences relating to the now-defunct Nóos Institute, a non-profit company that allegedly charged inflated prices to regional governments for leisure-related events.
Approval ratings for the royal family were at their lowest level in Spain’s democratic era when Felipe took over the throne in June, after King Juan Carlos abdicated following a series of embarrassing incidents and the emergence of the Nóos case.
Cristina and Urdangarin had already been excluded from official events, but pressure will now grow for the king’s elder sister to renounce her accession rights. Cristina is sixth in line to the Spanish throne.
Castro, who heard testimony from Cristina in a Mallorca court earlier this year, ruled on Monday that the 49-year-old princess had “directly benefited in financial terms” from the alleged crimes. Urdangarin and his former business partner, Diego Torres, are said to have used the Nóos Institute to siphon off some €6m (£4.7m) into tax havens.
Cristina, who currently resides in Switzerland with Urdangarin and their children, was half-owner of Aizoon, officially a property company which was set up with her husband but which was allegedly used as a means to repatriate Nóos funds.
The judge has ordered Cristina to put up a liability bond of €2.6m, but she is unlikely to receive a jail sentence of more than two years, which means she will almost certainly avoid imprisonment even if found guilty. Urdangarin faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Both Cristina and her husband have denied wrongdoing.
In a statement on Monday, the royal household stressed its “total respect for judicial independence”, adding that Cristina’s decision on whether to renounce her right to succession was hers alone.
The leader of the main opposition Socialist party, Pedro Sánchez, said earlier this month that Cristina should abandon her place in the line of succession if formally charged. Podemos, a 10-month-old leftwing party which is now polling consistently over 20% in voter surveys, has said it would put the monarchy up for a referendum if it takes power in next year’s elections.
Felipe has avoided offering any public support for his sister since the Nóos investigation was launched in 2010.
Called to testify in February, the princess declined to answer most of the questions put to her. “I trusted my husband,” she was quoted as telling Castro, emphasising that she was not privy to day-to-day dealings at Nóos despite being a board member.
The public prosecutor in the case previously challenged Castro’s decisions to include the princess as an official suspect in the investigation and last week hinted in the press that he would consider an appeal against her being charged even at this stage.