Princess Cristina will not be investigated

PRINCESS CRISTINA, the King’s daughter, will not be included in investigations centring on her husband’s business interests, Spain’s Attorney General said.

The princess is married to Iñaki Urdangarin, Duke of Palma, who allegedly creamed off payments to his non-profit making Noos Foundation to other “front” companies.

These included Aizoon, jointly owned by Cristina and Urdangarin, and it was possible that she had committed several offences, claimed lawyer Fernando Pamos last month.

Requesting an investigation by the Fiscalia General del Estado into the princess’s involvement, Pamos drew attention to private purchases which, according to an email found in the Duke’s offices, she wanted to charge to Aizoon.

Princess Cristina could be guilty of fraud, misuse of public funds, tax evasion, false accounting and infringing company law, Pamos claimed in an eight-page application to Spain’s equivalent of the Attorney General’s office.

Insisting that it was “impossible” the princess was unaware of her husband’s activities and the source of his income, Pamos pointed out that Fiscalia played an important part in ensuring that all Spaniards were equal before the law.

“If she were anyone else, she would have been questioned by now or her assets closely examined. There cannot be first-class and second-class citizens,” he declared.

After examining Pamos’s application, however, Fiscalia concluded that there were no grounds for investigating the princess. Pamos’s information was based on “media information”, it said in a written reply.

At no time could the princess’s conduct be linked to any type of criminal activity, it continued, and speculation was not accompanied by anything “even minimally concrete.”

By Linda Hall