Investigation into king's son-in-law reveals withdrawals of €1.1m

The non-profit Nóos Institute - which until mid-2006 was co-owned by Iñaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of King Juan Carlos - deposited in a checking account at La Caixa nearly nine million euros between March 2004 and July 2007. During that time, Urdangarin and his partner managed most of the contracts at Nóos Institute, which were awarded to them by regional governments without a bidding process. Most came from substantial public agencies that hired the institute to organize tourism and sporting events, at which famous celebrities and athletes were present.

From that checking account at La Caixa - which was opened in the name of the nonprofit organization and where the only people authorized to make withdrawals were Urdangarin and Torres - most of the nine million euros were transferred to seven private companies, all for-profit and owned by the king's son-in-law or his partner, Diego Torres.

An analysis of the bank account and another 39 accounts at six banks - all in the name of one of the companies - has led the police to conclude that Urdangarin and Torres, along with their wives, directly received three million euros from Nóos.

A good part of this allocation of funds, 1.9 million euros, was taken by Torres and his wife, while 1.1 million euros went to the Duke of Palma and his wife, Princess Cristina.

The money received by Urdangarin and the princess, according to the police report, includes amounts that came from the Nóos Institute and went directly to Aizoon, the company owned jointly by Urdangarin and the king's daughter.

Princess Cristina has not been indicted in the case due to insufficient evidence

Although Torres' wife has been indicted in the case, Princess Cristina has not, despite a petition filed by the obscure right-wing union Manos Limpias. The judge investigating the case has said that there is insufficient evidence concerning the involvement of the king's daughter in her husband's business.

Both the judge and anti-corruption prosecutors have said in different court filings over the past few months that the nonprofit institute Nóos was actually a ghost NGO, of which Urdangarin and Torres took advantage to make profits by organizing events for the regional governments of Valencia and the Balearic Islands in exchange for very high fees, which were double or even triple the actual price of the services performed.

What at first was supposed to be a charity project organized by the non-profit institute to promote tourism and sporting events for the regions became a very lucrative business for half-a-dozen private companies belonging to the Duke of Palma and his partner.

When the Nóos Institute sought to justify their expenditures to a judge, they submitted invoices for services that had nothing to do with those contracted by the Valencian and Balearic governments.

These irregularities and other questions that have arisen in the investigation gave the judge enough evidence to charge Urdangarin and his partner for crimes related to the embezzlement of public money, public fraud and falsifying documents.