King of Spain's brother-in-law found guilty in corruption scandal, Princess absolved

Inaki Urdangarin, the brother-in-law of King Felipe VI of Spain, was handed down a sentence of six years and three months in prison on Friday for his role in the "Noos" corruption scandal.

The younger sister of the King, Cristina de Borbon, was absolved of charges against her, but will have to pay a fine of 263,000 euros (280,258 U.S. dollars) jointly with her husband Urdangarin.

Urdangarin was found guilty of perversion of justice, falsifying documents, fraud, trafficking of influence, and two offences against the public Treasury.

He is the first member of the family of a King of Spain to be condemned to prison in modern times, although the decision is open to appeal.

The Noos trial began in January 2016 and over 300 witnesses testified until July, after which the magistrates have needed eight months to reach Friday's decision.

As well as Cristina and Urdangarin, 15 others faced charges in the trial which investigated the dealings of the Noos Institute, a supposedly non-profit institution set up by Urdangarin and his partner, Diego Torres, who were accused of embezzling 6.2 million euros (6.7 million U.S. dollars) of public money.

Urdangarin and Torres were accused of using Noos to organize events and with the connivance of officials overcharging for their services and in some cases billing for events which never took place.

Some of that money was siphoned off through a company called 'Aizoon' of which Cristina and her husband were the directors, and as a result she faced charges of tax evasion, which she had denied, insisting she knew nothing of her husband's dealings.

Friday's court decision saw Torres sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 1.7 million euros, while Jaume Matas, the former president of the Balearic Islands, was given a three year and eight month sentence for perversion of justice and fraud and banned from holding public office for seven years.

Matas, Torres, and Urdangarin are the only defendants to be given prison sentences, with ten of the accused absolved of any wrongdoing.

Torres' wife, Ana Maria Tejero, was among those absolved, although like the Infanta Cristina, she too will have to pay a fine (345,000 euros) for what the court considers to be her "civil responsibility" for having benefitted from the fraud.

The Spanish Royal Household has refused to make moe comment about the result of the trial other than to express its "absolute respect for the independence of the judiciary."

Source: Xinhua