King dragged in to court battle between son-in-law and former partner

A defense lawyer for one of the main suspects in the Nóos Institute embezzlement case is prepared to give a judge more material he has gathered that allegedly shows that King Juan Carlos personally asked politicians and businessmen to help with his son-in-law's business affairs.

Manuel González Peeters, who is defending Diego Torres, the former partner of the monarch's son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarin, has already given the court a batch of emails that support his allegations.

Both Torres and Urdangarin, who has also been indicted in the case, have blamed each other for the alleged embezzlement that took place at the non-profit Nóos Institute, which was given more than 10 million euros in contracts from Popular Party (PP) regional governments in Valencia and the Balearics.

A judge in Palma de Mallorca is investigating whether Urdangarin funneled part of the money to his private businesses.

González Peeters has used the emails to support a petition to get Torres' wife, Ana María Tejeiro, removed from the case. The lawyer argues that because the judge decided not to charge Urdangarin's wife, Princess Cristina, given that she didn't make any of the decisions at Nóos, charges should also be dropped against Tejeiro, who did not have any business influence at the institute either.

Torres' lawyer has used the emails that purportedly prove the king played a mediator's role to try to persuade the judge that the princess was indeed aware of all the decisions taken by Urdangarin.