Spain Prosecutor Opposes Indicting King's Daughter in Graft Probe

A Spanish public prosecutor said Thursday he was against indicting King Juan Carlos's youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, in a graft probe that has plunged the royal family into crisis, citing lack of evidence.

"Mere suspicions or conjectures are not valid elements for an indictment," Pedro Horrach, the chief anti-corruption prosecutor in Spain's Balearic Islands said in a report submitted to the court investigating the case.

"In this case, there is not a single piece of evidence that could link Cristina de Borbon with criminal activities, her own or those of another," he added in the 30-page report he submitted to the court in Palma de Mallorca.

The case, opened at the end of 2011, centers on allegations that Cristina's husband Inaki Urdangarin and his former business partner Diego Torres embezzled six million euros ($8 million) in public funds.

The money was allegedly placed in the non-profit Noos Institute, which Urdangarin chaired from 2004 to 2006 and of which Cristina was a board member, for it to organize sports events.

The judge leading the investigation, Jose Castro, named Cristina, 48, as a suspect in the case in April and ordered her to appear in court for questioning.

It was the first time a direct relation of the king had been called to appear in a court of law on suspicion of wrongdoing.

But the public prosecutors and Cristina's lawyers lodged an appeal, citing insufficient evidence, and an appeals court in May quashed the summons.

Castro then announced that he would investigate whether Cristina had engaged in tax evasion or money-laundering.

He demanded that the tax authorities provide him with a report on her property and other assets as part of this probe.

The court in Palma de Mallorca where the Noos Institute was based must decide whether or not to indict Cristina in that case.

Urdangarin, a 45-year-old former Olympic handball player, has appeared at the court for questioning as part of the probe but has not been charged with any crime and nor has Cristina.

The court earlier this month impounded Urdangarin's share of a luxury villa in Barcelona which he owns with Cristina and other property to cover a 6.1 million euro ($8.2 million) bond for his liability in the case.

The three-floor villa, which reportedly boasts seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, an elevator and a salt water swimming pool, is up for sale for 9.8 million euros.

Cristina and her husband bought the home in 2004 for 5.8 million euros and spent around 3.0 million euros upgrading the property, according to Spanish media reports.

The far-reaching corruption probe has plunged the royal family into its worst popularity crisis since Juan Carlos took the throne in 1975.

Juan Carlos won respect for his role in Spain's transition to democracy after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

But the Noos scandal has since combined with his health problems, and discontent among recession-hit Spaniards over the royals' lifestyle, to raise debate about the king's future.

The 75-year-old monarch will undergo hip surgery on November 21, his ninth operation in just over three years.

The king's recurring health problems have fed speculation of a possible abdication in favor of his son Felipe, 45, despite unequivocal palace denials.

Cristina, a manager in the social programs foundation of the Catalan finance group CaixaBank, moved to Geneva in August with her four children to work on the firm's joint projects with U.N. institutions.

Her husband has remained in Barcelona.

The palace has excluded Urdangarin, who was given the title of Duke of Palma when he married Cristina in 1997, from its official functions since the judicial investigation was launched in late 2011.