Financial Conviction of the Sister of the King of Spain Due to 'Indirect Benefit from Her Husband's Illegal Activities'

The sister of the King of Spain, although acquitted of corruption charges against her husband, has been ordered by a court to pay over 250,000 euros for indirectly benefiting from her husband's illegal activities. According to The Guardian, after a lengthy one-year trial that further damaged the reputation of the Spanish royal family among the public, Princess Cristina, the 51-year-old sister of King Felipe VI, was found innocent in her husband's corruption case. Meanwhile, her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison and fined 500,000 euros for embezzlement, fraud, and tax evasion. The New York Times reported that Princess Cristina is the first royal family member to face criminal charges since the restoration of the Spanish monarchy in 1975. Although she was found innocent in her husband's corruption case, the court ordered her to pay 265,000 euros as 'civil liability' because she indirectly profited from her husband's activities. Investigators believed that the princess must have been aware of her husband's illegal activities. However, she denied these allegations, stating that she trusted her husband and did not question him. During a six-hour interrogation, she said 'I don't know' 188 times and repeated 'I don't remember' 55 times. Inaki Urdangarin, a 49-year-old businessman and former player of the Spanish handball team, was accused and convicted of abusing royal connections to win tenders and public contracts for organizing sports events and other ceremonies. Urdangarin and his former business partner, Diego Torres, were convicted of embezzling six million euros. Torres was sentenced to eight years in prison.