Spanish royal questioned on corruption charges

PanARMENIAN.Net - Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of Spain's King Juan Carlos, left a court house in Palma de Majorca in the early hours of Monday, February 27 after being questioned extensively on allegations that he had been involved with a corruption network.

As M&C reported citing DPA, Urdangarin, who is married to Princess Cristina and has the title of Duke of Palma de Majorca, had been interrogated for a total of 21 hours since Saturday.

Urdangarin and his business partner, Diego Torres, are suspected of using a non-profit institute to organize events related to sports and tourism in the Balearic Islands and eastern Valencia, diverting public and private funds to a network of companies they created.

The Noos Institute, which was headed by Urdangarin from 2004 to 2006, received 5.8 million euros (7.5 million dollars) in public funds between 2004 and 2007.

Questioned by Judge Jose Castro, Urdangarin said he had only been a figurehead at the institute where Torres pulled the strings.

The duke had left “absolutely clear” that Princess Cristina had “nothing to do” with the alleged irregularities at the institute, his lawyer Mario Pascual Vives said.

No bail was imposed on Urdangarin for the time being. He and Cristina were now expected to return to the United States, where they live with their four children.

Cristina is the middle one among King Juan Carlos' and Queen Sofia's three children. She married Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player, in 1997.

The Zarzuela royal palace has distanced itself from Urdangarin, but the scandal has nevertheless tarnished the reputation of the royal family, with groups of republicans demonstrating outside the court house over the weekend.