Spain's Princess Cristina ensnared in corruption trial
Not surprising for European royalty, except for who picked up the tab: The Aizoon real estate and consulting firm the youngest daughter of Spain’s King Juan Carlos owned with her husband, Olympic handball medallist turned businessman Inaki Urdangarin.
The use, or possibly abuse, of company funds for personal pleasure is among evidence an investigating judge has compiled in a corruption case that has ensnared the royal couple.
Today, Cristina will make an unprecedented royal appearance in court to answer questions from the judge who has called Aizoon in court paperwork a “front company” — and formally named her as a fraud and money-laundering suspect.
The court date will be a spectacle viewed by millions of Spaniards on television, even though the princess’ grilling by the judge will happen behind closed doors with no media access.
All eyes will be on whether Cristina does the “paseillo” — Spain’s word for the matador’s strut into the bullring, which is being used to describe the kind of “perp walk” she could perform for her arrival at the court in Palma de Mallorca, the biggest city in Spain’s Balearic Islands.
The princess will either take about 50 paces down an alley under the scrutiny of onlookers or be driven to the side entrance.
Whatever the case, don’t expect her to turn up in a limousine or a flashy Mercedes. Her husband arrived in a modest Opel minivan before heading into the two paseillos he’s done so far, and similar transport can be expected for her.
Inside the courtroom, Cristina will sit in a high-backed chair directly facing a judge who has a picture of her father on the wall behind him.
The way the princess’ court appearance is handled could be key to how much more the mystique of an already discredited Spanish royal family may suffer.
The monarchy enjoyed huge esteem for decades because Juan Carlos played a strong role in Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. But now it is tarnished by a combination of the princess’ legal woes and the king’s own catastrophic decision to go on an expensive elephant hunting trip in 2012 — just as the nation teetered on the edge of financial chaos during Europe’s debt crisis.
In Cristina’s legal saga, Judge Jose Castro says in court records that many company expenses that appear personal in nature were never declared on the couple’s income taxes, and that he must determine whether the amounts spent reach an annual value of more than €120,000 that could turn the non-reporting into a crime punishable by prison.
If the amounts are less, the result would be a likely administrative tax investigation and possible fines.
In court paperwork, Castro sprinkles in details about the lavish life the couple enjoyed. He hones in on the household examples with bills for work or services at the mansion as possible illegal activity. Among the examples: A cocktail party the couple hosted for 81 friends to celebrate the birth of one of their four children; a bill for a salsa and merengue dance instructor who visited the mansion; and dinnerware purchased for the home that cost €1,741.
It’s up to Castro to decide later whether she should be charged with crimes that carry maximum term of 11 years in prison.
The timing of his revelations couldn’t be worse as Spaniards suffer from a prolonged economic slump and deteriorating trust in Spanish institutions including the monarchy.
The case is a direct offshoot of one led by the same judge in an investigation of Urdangarin for allegedly using his position as the Duke of Palma to embezzle public contracts via the Noos Institute, a supposedly non-profit foundation he and a business partner set up that channelled money to other firms, including Aizoon.
The deals brokered included organising seminars and sports events as a tourism lure. Some allegedly never took place or were billed at unusually high rates. The case is being heard in Palma de Mallorca because many deals were for the Balearic Islands.
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