Nóos judge hands Valencia case strand to regional court

The judge in charge of the Nóos probe into the business affairs of royal son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarin has asked the regional High Court of Valencia to take charge of the part of the investigation involving former Valencia premier Francisco Camps and the mayor of the city of Valencia, Rita Barberá.

Urdangarin, who has been formally indicted in the case along with his former business partner Diego Torres, admitted in testimony in February that he was awarded contracts by public administrations in Valencia worth almost four million euros without a formal tender process following private meetings with Camps and Barberá.

Urdangarin and Torres allegedly siphoned off money awarded to the non-profit Nóos Institute in the form of large public contracts to stage events.

Judge José Castro's decision to pass the proceedings on Camps and Barberá to the regional court is due "exclusively" to the immunity afforded to them as deputies in the regional assembly of Valencia. Castro last week was preparing to name the two politicians as official subjects in the case.

In a parallel development, Judge Castro has decided to extend his probe into possible tax irregularities and money laundering that may have been committed by Princess Cristina, Urdangarin's wife, to cover tax returns for the past 10 years. He had previously focused on the period from 2007 to 2010.

The princess was on the board of Nóos and with Urdangarin jointly owned the real estate firm Aizoon, which is suspected of having been the recipient of some of the funds allegedly obtained from Nóos's activities.

Judge Castro officially named Princess Cristina as a suspect in the Nóos case in April, but that decision was left in abeyance following objections by the solicitor general's office.