Spain’s anti-corruption prosecutor asked a judge Tuesday to drop charges against Princess Cristina, King Felipe VI’s older sister, for lack of evidence supporting her involvement in alleged criminal activities that could send her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, to prison for nearly 20 years.
According to the press, anti-corruption prosecutor Pedro Horrach did ask hoewer judge Jose Castro for Cristina to be held liable under civil law for having indirectly benefitted from some $725,000 in the so-called “Noos affair”.
That refers to a non-profit foundation presided by Urdangarin, into which he is alleged to have channeled some $7.5 million of fraudulently obtained public funds between 2004 and 2007.
In the same proceedings, the prosecutor asked for a sentence of 19 years and six months in prison and a 3.5 million euro fine for Urdangarin, the princess’ husband and erstwhile chairman of the Noos foundation, on charges that include corruption, embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering.
The prosecutor asked that the daughter of former King Juan Carlos be held liable for civil penalties for having allegedly “benefitted” from 587,413 euros, an amount equal to half the funds supposed to have been illegally channeled to a company called Aizoon.
That company, incorporated in 2003 and owned jointly by the princess and her husband, was allegedly used to cover their personal and family expenses.
The prosecutor argued that Urdangarin evaded 182,005 euros in taxes in 2007 and 155,138 euros in 2008, using Aizoon as a front company.
In addition, the business received 837,638 euros obtained from the embezzlement of public funds through the Noos Institute.
The princess “agreed to participate in the business, given the trust she had in her spouse and financial advisor, without being aware of the ultimate purpose of her presence in the company”, the prosecutor affirmed.
The Manos Limpias (“clean hands”) union, which is acting as private prosecution in the case, asked Judge Castro to try Princess Cristina on two counts of tax evasion, for which they demanded a prison sentence of up to eight years.
Prosecutor Horrach, after handing in the written indictment for the “Noos case”, in which the Princess is not accused, declared that: “I am still asking for the dismissal of charges; as I’ve said a thousand times, I don’t share the private prosecution’s criteria, and therefore am asking for the charges to be dropped.”
–IANS