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SPAIN’S PRINCESS CRISTINA and her husband went on trial today under intense global media scrutiny in a landmark corruption case that has outraged the country and sullied the monarchy’s reputation.
Cristina, a 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 medallist 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.
No ‘privilege’ for princess
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.
But Virginia Lopez Negrete, the lawyer representing “Manos Limpias”, rejected the argument.
“All citizens are equal before the law and as a result anachronistic doctrines cannot be applied” that would “privilege” the princess, she said.
Journalists from around the world have flocked to cover the trial, which was moved from a courthouse to a public administration school on the outskirts of Palma to accomodate the large number of reporters and lawyers.
It comes as Spain seethes over repeated corruption scandals that have exposed politicians, trade unions, bankers and footballers, eroding Spaniards’ faith in their institutions and elites after a major economic crisis and a government austerity drive.
Business dealings
The case is centred on business dealings by the Noos Institute, a charitable organisation 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 in public funds paid by two regional governments to the organisation to stage sporting and other types of events.
Urdangarin is accused of using his royal connections to secure inflated contracts without competing bids and siphoning off some of the money into Aizoon, a firm he jointly ran with his wife Cristina to fund a lavish lifestyle.
The couple are suspected of using Aizoon for personal expenses including work on the couple’s mansion in Barcelona, dance lessons and even Harry Potter books, which reduced the firm’s taxable profits, according to court filings.
If convicted Cristina — who has denied knowledge of her husband’s activities — faces a jail term of up to eight years. Urdangarin faces more than 19 years in prison.
Did royal palace ‘cooperate’?
The corruption scandal and health woes prompted Cristina’s father Juan Carlos to abdicate in 2014 in favour of his son Felipe to try to revive the scandal-hit monarchy.
King Felipe VI swiftly ordered palace accounts to be subject to an external audit and promised an honest and transparent monarchy.
Torres, Urdangarin’s former business partner, has insisted that Juan Carlos and his advisers knew and approved of his son-in-law’s business dealings at the Noos Institute and has hundreds of emails that can prove it.
“The royal palace was informed, supervised, and at times even cooperated,” he said during an interview broadcast on private television La Sexta on Sunday.
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The American military have dropped worse things on Japan.
@michael: Baseball?
@michael: so True, and “regrettable” who writes that stuff, regrettable is when you forget to get milk .
Why would they have to fly over a school? Also, where is the justification of having a military base outside of US territory?
@Andy K:
If any flight path had to avoid every school, hospital or any other place with a high level of footfall then we would have to stop flying altogether.
As for the bases outside of the US, the Japanese asked them to be there.
@Andy K: Kim Jong Un
@Andy K: the upcoming War with North Korea I’d surmise ?
@Thought for Food: Hmm, I did not know Japanese forces requested the US to stay there. I thought it was more like what happened in Germany where there was no peace treaty signed after WW2.
And I do not mean to stop every aircraft flying over schools, but a helicopter is a different scenario. They can easily change their flight path.
@Andy K:
Again, no they can’t if they had to for every school or other high traffic area. This is one incident out of tens of thousands of flyovers and there were no casualties. Statistically the cars driving past are far more dangerous.
As for the American presence in Japan, the US and Japanese governments signed an agreement where the Japanese would forego an offensive military and in exchange the US would provide military protection from external threats to Japanese sovereignty.
@Andy K: when a football team is playing another football team they’ll send scouts to the other teams training ground to watch them train before a big game. Id say it’s much like this
@Andy K: ah Andy. Uk, Philippines, South Korea, etc etc. Wakey wakey
@Thought for Food: that’s not really true. It is a forced occupation that Japan pays billions of dollars every year to the US to be there. At the end of the US occupation of Japan after WW2, the US changed that “land occupation” into a protective force that Japan has to pay for. Officially Japan requested it, but in reality it was forced by the US who can control access to the Pacific Ocean, and keep an eye on China.
@Thought for Food: now having said that, China claims the Okinawa islands as theirs, so if the US decided to leave that place, China would jump on it. Okinawa is strategically way too important to be left alone unfortunately. Control of Okinawa controls the access to the Pacific Ocean. I don’t think the US will never leave that place.
@Andy K: to defend the rest of you who won’t or can’t defend yourself. Bitch and complain you ungrateful whatever. Security is secured with blood and sweat. How about some of yours for awhile.
I wonder was it a new, clear window?
Of course they are taking it “very seriously “, those doors aren’t cheap you know.
@Larry Doyle: windows
Wasn’t “regrettable” the word used when paramilitaries killed, maimed or injured others than whom the incendiary/viable device was intended for? They never worked out that human beings are sentient, except maybe when a device went off prematurely in the bomber’s hand. And only of late are we realising that animals can feel – even marine life has feelings. Humanity – “a joke in progress.” And before someone says, “speak for yourself!” …I DO.
@Paul Jennings:
What about plants, do they not have feelings too?
@Nick Allen: Actually, they do. They can feel pain and they also react to plants nearby being injured or killed. There have been numerous studies and they seem to show that plants to have feelings.
@Nick Allen: well I take care of mine and talk to them even. They don’t also respond no matter how much t.l.c. I give them. In fact sometimes they seem to absolutely thrive on neglect. We don’t speak the same language. A bit like some of the women I’ve encountered. Self sentient primarily.
“Ooh,shut that door!
@gerry fallon: it’s the window Gerry.
Let’s hope the North Koreans don’t invade anytime soon with the keystone cops on this base.
It could have been a real pane in the neck.
“Regrettable”? Seriously?
Regrettable ? No shiiiit sherlock !!
A piece left over from WW11
New bomb. Glass
have your say