Anger as king’s embezzling brother-in-law is spared time in prison
SPAIN: Three Spanish judges have provoked outrage by granting bail to King Felipe’s brother-in-law without a financial bond, despite him being sentenced to six years in prison for tax fraud and money laundering.
The judges ruled that Inaki Urdangarin, 49, the husband of Princess Cristina, did not have to go to jail while he was preparing an appeal. After the hearing in Palma, Mallorca, he flew home to Geneva, where he lives with the princess and their four children.
The decision has fuelled accusations that Urdangarin has received favourable treatment because of his relationship to the royal family. When he arrived at court, crowds shouted ‘‘Thief!’’ and ‘‘Where is the money?’’.
Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball star, was found guilty of using royal connections to embezzle €6 million of public money, then transferring it through front companies in London and elsewhere to tax havens. He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison and fined €512,000.
Cristina, 51, the younger sister of King Felipe, was absolved of colluding in tax fraud with her husband but was ordered to pay a civil liability of €265,000.
The long-running corruption scandal has outraged Spaniards because when it began in 2011, millions were struggling in a deep economic crisis. The implication that the royal household might have been involved went a long way towards ending the reign of the once popular king Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, and has prompted calls for the abolition of the monarchy.
Under Spanish law, it is up to a judge to decide whether a person who has been sentenced to prison, but who wants to appeal, can remain on bail or must go to jail.
Urdangarin can appeal the sentence of the provincial Mallorcan court, where he was tried with the princess and 16 others, through the Supreme Court in Madrid. The process may take years.
The judges said that Urdangarin, who was once the golden boy of the royal family, ‘‘had sufficient family roots’’ in Spain to ensure there was no risk he would flee. They added that his conduct warranted a ‘‘less serious treatment’’ than that demanded by prosecutors, who had sought a surety of €200,000.
Urdangarin must report once a month to a court in Geneva. He is also free to travel anywhere in the European Union but must inform the court if he wants to travel further afield.
There was anger at the apparent leniency of the court’s treatment.
Inigo Errejon, an MP for the farleft Podemos party, said: ‘‘Typical. They sentence you for influence peddling, tax evasion and fraud but you go off to Switzerland as if you had done nothing wrong.’’
Cristina became the first member of the royal family to stand trial in a criminal case. She and her husband denied any wrongdoing. - The Times