Urdangarin "angry" but "anxious" to testify, says lawyer

The lawyer for King Juan Carlos' son-in-law said Monday that his client had paid "a lot of taxes" and was "angry" about having to appear next month before a Palma de Mallorca judge investigating an alleged scheme to divert public funds.

The lawyer, Marío Pascual Vives, insisted Iñaki Urdangarin was innocent of charges that he helped siphon off large chunks of the three million euros given to his non-profit Nóos Institute by the Balearic Islands government to organize a series of tourism and sporting conventions. The embattled son-in-law was subpoenaed to appear before the judge on February 25 as an official target of the investigation.

Pascual Vives called a news conference to deny rumors that Urdangarin, known by his aristocratic title, the Duke of Palma, and Princess Cristina had decided to divorce. "They are not true," he said.

Over the weekend, royal watchers, quoting sources, said the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos had decided to seek a divorce.

Pascual Vives and Urdangarin have been meeting in private on a daily basis since he arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday to go over his defense strategy. "Iñaki Urdangarin is anxious to testify," the lawyer said.

In his more that 2,700-page case summary, Judge José Castro said prosecutors concluded that Urdangarin "was a visible face" along with his Nóos partner, Diego Torres, in transferring money to offshore foreign accounts. They also found that Urdangarin was still conducting business after 2007, when King Juan Carlos asked him to stop, and sent him and his wife to Washington where he took up a job with Telefónica.

Treasury investigators have also said they have opened up an inquiry in the Aizoon real estate firm - jointly owned by Urdangarin and Cristina - after they found some suspicious cash deposits and withdrawals in 2008.

Princess Cristina is not under investigation.

While Urdangarin was out lobbying to bring international sports events to the Balearic Islands as well as Valencia through Nóos, the head of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, felt he was being overstepped by the royal son-in-law's efforts.

A letter included in the case file demonstrates how Blanco was miffed over Urdangarin's maneuvering. "All I ask you is that if you have to do some sort of work that involves the Spanish Olympic Committee, or myself, you tell me at once so that I can be kept abreast," Blanco wrote.

Urdangarin had gone over Blanco's head to try to convince Mario Pescante, the then-head of the European Olympic Committee, to hold the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Valencia.

Nóos was working with the Valencia government to try to organize tourism and sporting events in the southern coastal city. Investigators say Nóos also won some three million euros in contracts from the government of Francisco Camps.

After Blanco protested, Urdangarin acknowledged it was a misunderstanding.