Spanish prosecutors called Tuesday for the acquittal of the king's sister Cristina in a corruption case but demanded a jail sentence of 19 and a half years for her husband in a scandal which has tainted the monarchy.
Anti-corruption group Clean Hands accuses the princess of "co-operation" with her husband, former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin, in embezzlement and tax crimes that contributed to the abdication this year of King Felipe's father, Juan Carlos.
It has used a unique Spanish legal instrument known as a "people's accusation", which allows unharmed citizens to press charges against third parties, to open an unprecedented criminal investigation into the couple.
The group is seeking eight years in jail for Cristina and wants her to be fined just over two million euros ($2.5 million).
"I don't share the opinion of the people's accusation and as a result I have asked that the case against her to be dismissed," public prosecutor Pedro Horrach told reporters on the island of Majorca where the case is being investigated.
Judges can choose whether or not to act on "people's accusation" complaints.
Examining judge Jose Castro overrode objections from the prosecutor and brought preliminary charges against Cristina and her husband based on his own probe and that of Clean Hands.
But last month Spanish judges dropped money-laundering charges against Cristina, 49, and upheld the lesser tax fraud charges in response to an appeal.
The court upheld charges of embezzlement and money laundering against her husband.
While public prosecutors asked for these charges against Cristina to be dismissed citing a lack of evidence, they said she should be made to pay 587,413 euros to cover money she could have profited from owing to her husband's alleged illegal dealings.
Prosecutors recommended that Urdangarin and several others, including his former business partner, Diego Torres, stand trial.
If Urdangarin, 46, is found guilty they recommended that he be jailed to 19 and a half years and fined 3.5 million euros.
"It seems like it was a blood crime, no? Like it was a murder," his lawyer, Mario Pascual Vives, told journalists.
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Urdangarin is accused along with his former business partner of creaming off six million euros ($8 million) in public funds from contracts awarded to Noos, a charitable foundation.
Cristina sat on the board of Noos and Urdangarin was its chairman.
Investigators suspect that a separate company jointly owned by the couple, Aizoon, served as a front for laundering the embezzled money.
Summoned by Castro in February, Cristina arrived at the court with a smile and told the judge she had simply trusted her husband and had no knowledge of his business affairs.
Castro grilled Cristina, a mother of four with a master's degree from New York University, in a six-hour hearing over accounts that indicated Aizoon money was used for personal expenses, including salsa dance lessons, Harry Potter books and tickets to mime shows.
Cristina's lawyer, Miquel Roca, one of the authors of Spain's 1978 constitution, said his client would "immediately" pay the amount of money prosecutors had deemed she was civilly liable for.
Castro will now decide who should be formally indicted in the case.
He can accept the prosecutor's recommendations or he could disagree and send Cristina to trial, in what would be the first time that a direct relative of a spanish monarch sits in the dock.
The so-called Noos affair overshadowed the final years of the reign of Juan Carlos, who is credited with helping guide Spain from dictatorship to democracy after the death in 1975 of General Francisco Franco.
Juan Carlos, 76, tearfully abdicated in favour of his son in June.
Urdangarin and Cristina have been excluded from royal activities since 2011 when the first allegations against him emerged.
Cristina was absent from her younger brother's proclamation as king when he promised an "honest and transparent monarchy".
Spanish prosecutors called Tuesday for the acquittal of the king’s sister Cristina in a corruption case but demanded a jail sentence of 19 and a half years for her husband in a scandal which has tainted the monarchy.
Anti-corruption group Clean Hands accuses the princess of “co-operation” with her husband, former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin, in embezzlement and tax crimes that contributed to the abdication this year of King Felipe’s father, Juan Carlos.
It has used a unique Spanish legal instrument known as a “people’s accusation”, which allows unharmed citizens to press charges against third parties, to open an unprecedented criminal investigation into the couple.
The group is seeking eight years in jail for Cristina and wants her to be fined just over two million euros ($2.5 million).
“I don’t share the opinion of the people’s accusation and as a result I have asked that the case against her to be dismissed,” public prosecutor Pedro Horrach told reporters on the island of Majorca where the case is being investigated.
Judges can choose whether or not to act on “people’s accusation” complaints.
Examining judge Jose Castro overrode objections from the prosecutor and brought preliminary charges against Cristina and her husband based on his own probe and that of Clean Hands.
But last month Spanish judges dropped money-laundering charges against Cristina, 49, and upheld the lesser tax fraud charges in response to an appeal.
The court upheld charges of embezzlement and money laundering against her husband.
While public prosecutors asked for these charges against Cristina to be dismissed citing a lack of evidence, they said she should be made to pay 587,413 euros to cover money she could have profited from owing to her husband’s alleged illegal dealings.
Prosecutors recommended that Urdangarin and several others, including his former business partner, Diego Torres, stand trial.
If Urdangarin, 46, is found guilty they recommended that he be jailed to 19 and a half years and fined 3.5 million euros.
“It seems like it was a blood crime, no? Like it was a murder,” his lawyer, Mario Pascual Vives, told journalists.
– Salsa lessons and books –
Urdangarin is accused along with his former business partner of creaming off six million euros ($8 million) in public funds from contracts awarded to Noos, a charitable foundation.
Cristina sat on the board of Noos and Urdangarin was its chairman.
Investigators suspect that a separate company jointly owned by the couple, Aizoon, served as a front for laundering the embezzled money.
Summoned by Castro in February, Cristina arrived at the court with a smile and told the judge she had simply trusted her husband and had no knowledge of his business affairs.
Castro grilled Cristina, a mother of four with a master’s degree from New York University, in a six-hour hearing over accounts that indicated Aizoon money was used for personal expenses, including salsa dance lessons, Harry Potter books and tickets to mime shows.
Cristina’s lawyer, Miquel Roca, one of the authors of Spain’s 1978 constitution, said his client would “immediately” pay the amount of money prosecutors had deemed she was civilly liable for.
Castro will now decide who should be formally indicted in the case.
He can accept the prosecutor’s recommendations or he could disagree and send Cristina to trial, in what would be the first time that a direct relative of a spanish monarch sits in the dock.
The so-called Noos affair overshadowed the final years of the reign of Juan Carlos, who is credited with helping guide Spain from dictatorship to democracy after the death in 1975 of General Francisco Franco.
Juan Carlos, 76, tearfully abdicated in favour of his son in June.
Urdangarin and Cristina have been excluded from royal activities since 2011 when the first allegations against him emerged.
Cristina was absent from her younger brother’s proclamation as king when he promised an “honest and transparent monarchy”.
