In-law says Spain’s royals had no role in his business

MADRID—A son-in-law of King Juan Carlos I denied on Saturday that his wife and other members of the Spanish royal household had any direct involvement in his past business dealings, which have been at the heart of a fraud investigation that has embarrassed the monarchy. The son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, who became the Duke of Palma in 1997 when he married Cristina, the younger daughter of the king, told Judge Jose Castro that the king, the princess and royal household officials had not offered him any advice about the activities of the Noos Institute, a sports foundation that Urdangarin had run. Prosecutors have been investigating whether Urdangarin used his royal credentials to secure inflated, no-bid contracts from regional politicians for his foundation and then diverted millions of euros from the contract fees into other companies and offshore accounts that he and his associates controlled.