The son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, who received the title of Duke of Palma after marrying the Infanta Cristina, the king’s youngest daughter, is at the center of an investigation into whether he and business partners embezzled public money allocated to sports and tourism events.
The duke has not been charged so far. But he has been named in preliminary reports released by public prosecutors who have been investigating the dealings of the Noós Institute, a nonprofit foundation that the duke had chaired.
On Saturday, the duke made a brief statement to Efe, the Spanish news agency, in which he said that “I profoundly regret the serious damage to the image of my family and that of the king’s household, which has nothing to do with my private activities.”
He is alleged to have used his royal credentials to secure multimillion-euro contracts for his foundation from regional authorities in Valencia and the Balearic Islands to organize sports and tourism events, then siphoning off part of the contract fees toward other companies that he and his business associates controlled. His main associate, Diego Torres, has already been charged with misappropriating public funds.
While members of the royal family have normally been spared the kind of media scrutiny that their counterparts in Britain have faced, the Noós investigation has recently made the front pages here, at a time when opinion polls have shown declining public support for the Spanish monarchy.
Two years ago, the duke and his family moved to Washington, where he works for Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications company.
You Might Also Like :
0 comments:
Post a Comment