"Judge orders tax-fraud trial for Princess Cristina of Spain" by Raphael Minder, New York Times December 23, 2014
MADRID — Princess Cristina of Spain was ordered on Monday to stand trial on tax fraud charges, a blow to the hopes of Spain’s royal household to limit the damage to the monarchy’s reputation from a continuing corruption case.
When one one looks at the swath of elite today one realizes they are all money-addicted $cum wherever they be.
The decision on Monday by Judge José Castro, who has been leading the embezzlement investigation, means that Cristina will face trial along with her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin.
The monarchy had been hoping that the trial would be limited to Urdangarin, who has been at the heart of a fraud scandal that coincides with several other political corruption cases. Together, the cases have shaken the institutional foundations of Spain.
With the decision, Cristina faces the prospect of becoming the first direct member of the royal family in modern history to answer charges in court.
The case coincided with the ascent to the throne of Cristina’s brother as King Felipe VI, succeeding their father, Juan Carlos.
Urdangarin is accused of using his royal credentials to secure inflated contracts from regional politicians for his sports events company and then siphoning millions of dollars from the contract fees to other companies and offshore accounts controlled by him and his business associates.
Earlier this month, the lead prosecutor, Pedro Horrach, recommended that Cristina only be fined, while her husband alone be tried on the embezzlement charges. However, Castro ignored the prosecutor’s recommendation. The judge said Cristina’s financial liability in the fraud case was about $3.2 million.
Castro is based in Palma, the main city in the Balearic Islands where the fraud investigation started four years ago. Though no date was set on Monday for the trial, Spanish news reports suggested it was likely to be held in the second half of 2015.
Both Cristina and her husband have denied any wrongdoing. If convicted of tax fraud, she could be sentenced to four years in prison, but separate money-laundering charges that could have exposed her to as many as 11 years in prison were dropped in November.
Cristina’s problems stem mostly from her role in Aizoon, a real estate and consulting company that she owned with her husband. Aizoon is one of the companies that Urdangarin is alleged to have created to siphon fees paid to his Nóos Institute, the foundation that he used to organize sports events.
Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player who became Duke of Palma in 1997 upon marrying Cristina, has said his wife and other members of the royal family had no direct involvement in his business deals and the management of the Nóos foundation.
Last year, as the investigation gathered pace, Cristina, 49, moved with her four children to Geneva, to work in the international division of a foundation tied to La Caixa, one of Spain’s largest banks.
The bank said that the princess would help develop the foundation’s relations with United Nations agencies and charitable institutions based in Geneva, though the relocation was widely seen as an attempt to shield the princess and her children from Spanish media scrutiny.
Urdangarin has remained in Barcelona, where the couple had lived in a mansion, whose 2004 purchase for $8 million and subsequent lavish refurbishment have formed part of the corruption investigation.
In late 2013 the couple lost that home when it and three other properties were seized for a civil bond of more than $10 million.
Cristina traveled to Palma in February to be questioned by Castro. During the closed-door hearing, she denied knowledge of any fraudulent deals struck by her husband, replying “I don’t know” on 182 occasions to the questions put to her by the judge.
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Related:
Spain's King Quits
Spanish Princess
After being kicked around a bit it all came crashing down.
Remember when royalty was filled with nobility?
Related: Winners of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" celebrate in El Gastor, near Cadiz
It's photo number 4 that appeared on page A3 of my Globe today.
Interesting contra$t with the prince$$ article, wouldn't you say?
