A Palma judge said yesterday that he will wrap up a corruption probe into King Felipe VI’s sister Princess Cristina and her husband Iñaki Urdangarin tomorrow, opening up the prospect of a historic criminal trial.
Palma.—Less than a week after 46-year-old Felipe VI took the crown from his father Juan Carlos promising an “honest and transparent” monarchy, the judge’s decision threatens to put damaging royal corruption allegations back in the headlines.
The investigating judge in Palma, Jose Castro, will issue the results of his probe tomorrow, the court said in a brief statement sent to reporters by text message.
Under the Spanish legal system, the judge will recommend any suspects to be charged, details of the charges they may face and the names of those he may want to be sent for trial.
A final decision, however, is taken by the Palma provincial court after considering any appeals.
Anti-corruption prosecutors have previously opposed the judge’s decision to name Cristina, 49, as a criminal suspect for complicity in the allegedly dodgy business dealings of her husband, a former Olympic handball player.
Long thought of as untouchable, Cristina would be the first direct relation of the Spanish monarch in history to stand in the dock as a criminal defendant.