Spain’s Princess Cristina prepares for historic trial

spain

On Monday Spain’s Princess Cristina will become the first member of the country’s royal family to be put on trial. King Felipe’s sister faces tax fraud charges as part of an alleged embezzlement scam involving her husband and 16 other defendants, who all deny the charges.

In the courtroom in Palma, Majorca, the princess will be accused of being an accomplice to tax fraud, along with her husband Inaki Urdangarin. His supposedly non-profit company was allegedly used as a vehicle to win falsely inflated contracts from regional government bodies, before channelling the money to personal accounts via tax havens.

The amount of public funds paid to Urdangarin’s Noos Institute has been calculated at €5.6m (£4.1m; $6.07m). Princess Cristina, 50, was a board member at the charitable Noos sports foundation and, with Mr Urdangarin, co-owned a real estate company called Aizoon, which prosecutors say was used to launder embezzled funds…[+]