German princess performed no "classified" work, says spy chief

The director of Spain's CNI national intelligence center on Tuesday denied that his agency had hired Princess Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein to perform any type of services, rejecting recent statements she made in interviews in several publications that she did "classified" work for the Spanish government.

Félix Sanz Roldán appeared at a closed-door hearing before a congressional committee that is in charge of investigating secret funding to try to allay concerns among opposition lawmakers, who have been uneasy over Sayn-Wittgenstein's close friendship with King Juan Carlos and her recent statements.

Lawmakers have been uneasy over Sayn-Wittgenstein's close friendship with King Juan Carlos

Sanz Roldán declined to speak to reporters outside the committee meeting room because his testimony was confidential.

But sources said the CNI director also rejected reports that the intelligence agency had obtained information from Método 3, the now-defunct Barcelona-based private detective agency that is under investigation for allegedly spying on politicians and businessmen.