Royal family’s lawyer denies involvement in creation of foundation

The royal family’s personal attorney has denied any involvement in the creation of a foundation being investigated as part of an embezzlement case affecting the king’s son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin.

José Manuel Romero is the latest person to be caught up in an investigation into the business activities of Urdangarin and his former associate, Diego Torres, both of whom are thought to have siphoned off millions of euros in public money from the governments of Valencia and the Balearics. Most of the money, meant to organize sports and tourism events in those regions, may have ended up in tax havens.

Torres’ defense has included the release of hundreds of personal emails in an attempt to prove that his and Urdangarin’s activities were in some way abetted by the royal household.

Most recently, the personal advisor to both princesses, Carlos García Revenga, was indicted over his alleged work for the Nóos Institute, the non-profit set up by Urdangarin and Torres to channel the public funds.

Torres has also suggested that Princess Cristina — Urdangarin’s wife — played a role as a board member at Nóos. So far, the attorney has failed to indict her, saying her involvement appears to have been “diffuse.” During his seven-hour statement before the judge and the anti-corruption attorney in Palma de Mallorca, Torres admitted that Cristina de Borbón never showed up at Nóos, that she didn’t receive direct payments from the institute, and she did no direct work for it.

Torres also aimed directly at King Juan Carlos, whom the associates referred to internally as “the boss,” and mentioned an email that allegedly discusses the monarch’s help finding a private sponsor for Nóos.

In a press release sent to Efe news agency, Romero denied providing legal advice for the creation of Fundación Cultura, Deporte e Integración Social (Fdcis), the foundation that succeeded Nóos. His only role, he said, was indicating that Urdangarin should only be part of its advisory board, not its management team.

Romero also said the Royal House asked him to assess the legal status of the Nóos Institute in July 2005, after which he recommended separating the business activities from the social goal of encouraging sports activities.

But Torres claims Romero deliberately designed a strategy to ensure that Urdangarin would not show up publicly in the activities of the Nóos Institute or Fdcis. The king himself, Torres claims, told his lawyer to ensure Urdangarin stayed away from Nóos, yet did not force him to put a halt to his business activities because all that was required was “to keep up appearances.”

Phony invoices

Torres, who, like Urdangarin, faces eight counts of corruption, reasserted in court that the 10 million euros that Nóos secured from Valencia and the Balearics were legally obtained, and that there were no phony invoices as claimed by the accusation.

The judge’s report states that those public contracts are void because of the arbitrary way in which they were earned, without being put out to tender. Urdangarin is believed to have used his position as a member of the royal family to influence the awarding of contracts.