Judge targets Urdangarin palace deal with top Valencia officials

A Palma de Mallorca judge is investigating an alleged meeting between the king’s son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, his business partner and two leading Valencian officials that may have helped secure millions of euros in government contracts for Urdangarin’s company.

The meeting, which supposedly took place at the royal palace of La Zarzuela, was revealed by Diego Torres, Urdangarin’s former business partner, who claims then-regional premier Francisco Camps and Valencia Mayor Rita Barberá both attended the event. Camps has denied being there.

Torres and Urdangarin now face embezzlement charges over sports events organized by their Instituto Nóos, a non-profit that nevertheless channeled much of the money from the Valencian and Balearic governments to private firms controlled by themselves. Urdangarin is also thought to have used his connections to obtain no-bid contracts. His wife, Princess Cristina, was recently and controversially removed from the list of official suspects in the case.

The investigating judge, José Castro, said on Wednesday that he still “believes what he put in [his] resolution” to subpoena the princess before an appeal against the king’s daughter being targeted was upheld by a panel of judges in Palma de Mallorca.