Spanish royal in court
King’s son-in-law denies embezzling millions of dollars
MADRID – The son-in-law of King Juan Carlos I will become the first royal in modern Spanish history to appear in court when he shows up Saturday as part of a fraud investigation that has hurt the monarchy’s image.
The son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, 44, who became duke of Palma in 1997 upon marrying Cristina, the youngest daughter of the king, was subpoenaed by a judge who has been investigating whether Urdangarin and business partners embezzled public money allocated to sports and tourism events amounting to as much as 5.8 million euros ($7.7 million).
“This is an unprecedented case,” said Carmen Enriquez, who was national television’s royals correspondent for almost two decades and has written three books on the royal family.
Urdangarin’s legal problems stem from his former role as chairman of the Noos Institute, a foundation. As part of a broader investigation into political corruption in the Balearic Islands, of which Palma is the capital, prosecutors have been investigating whether he used his royal credentials to secure contracts for his foundation from the regional authorities to organize sports and tourism events and then siphoned off part of the contract fees toward other companies and offshore accounts that he and his associates controlled.
Urdangarin has denied any wrongdoing, saying he will defend his “honour and innocence” in court – though behind closed doors, after recently receiving permission to bar the usual video recording of questioning. He has also denied any link between his business dealings and the rest of the royal family.
The constitution grants the monarch full immunity, but that does not extend to other members of the family.
Several witnesses in the Noos fraud investigation, some of them close associates or friends of Urdangarin, have added credence this month to the prosecution’s allegations of accounting fraud. Their accounts have also corroborated much of the evidence gathered when Noos’s offices were raided in November