Spain: King’s daughter likely to face fraud and money laundering charges

As a financial scandal engulfs the royal family and politicians begin to call for his abdication, Spain’s King Juan Carlos faces one of the worst weeks in his 37-year reign, with prosecutors set to ask a judge to formally name his daughter Princess Cristina as a suspect in a multimillion-euro fraud and money-laundering case. The request, which would be a preliminary step to a possible indictment, is poised to be made next week and will be based on the testimony of Diego Torres, a former business school lecturer who became the partner of Cristina’s husband, Iñaki Urdangarin. Juan Carlos’s nightmare week starts in Palma de Mallorca , when Urdangarin must appear before an investigating magistrate who has demanded that he and Torres post a joint bond of €8.1m (£7m).

The growing scandal surrounding the king’s daughter and her husband, who were given the title of Dukes of Palma by the king after she married the Olympic-medal winning handball player in 1997, has reached a new peak as Urdangarin prepares to appear before Castro to answer more questions about the multimillion-euro deals struck by the supposedly not-for-profit Nóos Institute with regional governments in Valencia and the Balearic Islands.

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