How royal's inside track led to multi-million-euro contracts

Royal son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarin directly negotiated a slew of personal consulting contracts with Spanish and foreign firms, which brought him in more than 200,000 euros annually, according to court papers.

Sometimes, the former Spanish Olympic handball player would sign contracts for a monthly figure of more than 6,000 euros.

Urdangarin worked through the private firm Aizoon and the non-profit Nóos Institute, both now the focus in the ongoing investigation into an alleged scheme to divert public funds from the regional governments of the Balearic Islands and Valencia. In one instance, Urdangarin worked one year without a contract at an investment firm called Mixta África, according to an agreement he signed in 2007 - more than a year after King Juan Carlos put a stop to his private business dealings.

He took advantage of his connections and knowledge of capturing sponsors

Urdangarin was able to negotiate retainer fees as high as 200,000 euros

In 2006, Urdangarin and his wife, Princess Cristina, declared more than one million euros in earnings on their tax returns, including the 120,000 euros the king's daughter earned at La Caixa and the yearly allowance from public money she received through her father.

Tax returns, along with an abundant number of documents, are now in the custody of a court in Palma de Mallorca, which is investigating Urdangarin's business dealings. On December 29, the royal-son-in-law was subpoenaed to appear next month before Judge José Castro after he was named an official defendant in the so-called Operation Babel - an offshoot inquiry of the much larger contract scheme investigation into the overpricing of the Palma de Arena sports complex.

According to documents, Urdangarin's salary at Nóos was 54,800 euros in 2005. That same year, his Aizoon firm declared 640,000 euros in earnings coming from Nóos - the institute itself, and Nóos Strategic Consulting, another company he set up.

Princess Cristina, co-owner of Aizoon consulting firm and of some real estate firms, is not being investigated in the alleged corruption scheme that has ensnared her husband. Among the possible charges Urdangarin faces are misappropriation of public funds, falsification of documents, public administration fraud and dereliction of duty.

Multinational firms such as Telefónica, Motopress, Moto Ibérica and Global were just a few of the companies with which Urdangarin was able to negotiate a retainer fee, sometimes as much as 200,000 euros, as a management or board consultant. Anti-corruption prosecutors and tax inspectors have determined that the Nóos group made some 4.3 million euros in earnings, with an additional 5.8 million euros in public contracts, between 2004 and 2007.

In one agreement, signed with the French media group Lagardère, a stipulation provided 200,000 euros of compensation for Urdangarin with the pledge that the services would be performed by him. But an amendment to that contract states that the work would be conducted by Nóos Strategic Consultants.

Anti-corruption prosecutor Pedro Horrach, who is leading the investigation, discovered an unsigned private agreement between Arnaud Moliné, of the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation, and Urdangarin, in which he reportedly pledges to help with international communications and to obtain sponsorship. The letter was confiscated during a raid of the Barcelona offices of Miguel Tejero, the financial advisor to Urdangarin and the princess as well as to Nóos.

In Aizoon's tax return, there is a 200,000-euro disclosure from Lagardère.

Urdangarin declared in 2007 that the private Mixta África company advanced him 257,000 euros, while Motor Ibérica, where he worked, paid him 209,148 euros. Urdangarin was listed as an advisor and stockholder at Mixta África, and signed a confidential contract that stipulated all new stockholders would put in writing what type of services they would offer.

Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player and son-in-law to the king of Spain, took advantage of his connections, knowledge of finding sponsors and family ties, according to witnesses in the case, such as former Valencia soccer club president Juan Bautista Soler and the club's president Fernando Roig, who hired him.

Urdangarin was able to bring in some 430,000 euros in sponsorship from Volkswagen Audi in three years, as well as 406,000 euros from Telefónica and 275,856 euros from Repsol YPF.

Nóos broke off all its connections with private companies as well as public entities sometime in the middle of 2006, after Urdangarin was - "apparently," says prosecutor Horrach - forced by the king to move his family to the United States.