Princess clueless about origin of suspect money, defense lawyers claim

Princess Cristina, who has been named as a suspect in a tax-fraud and money-laundering investigation into her husband’s business affairs, never participated in the running of the family business and had no knowledge of its accounting, her lawyers claim.

In their arguments to the examining judge, attorneys Miguel Roca and Jesús Silva said that any alleged tax evasion by Aizoon, a company owned jointly by the king's youngest daughter and her husband Iñaki Urdangarin, is wholly attributable to the latter.

The lawyers argue that there is no reason to believe that Cristina de Borbón was aware that her husband “may have been incurring in any kind of fiscal irregularity suggesting that the company funds that she occasionally used had their origin in criminal activity.”

Judge José Castro decided to formally target the princess in the investigation after noting that she spent 698,824.74 euros of Aizoon money on items such as dinnerware, trips, private dance lessons and the refurbishment of their Barcelona mansion.

Cristina de Borbón has been ensnared in the ongoing inquiry into her husband, who is believed to have embezzled millions of euros gained through no-bid contracts with the governments of Valencia and the Balearics. After overcharging for sports and tourism events in these regions, he is then alleged to have channeled part of the money to Aizoon.