Scandal with the Spanish Royal Family. Part II

4 May 2012

I wrote a couple weeks ago about the various scandals that have plagued the Spanish Royal Family this year. I briefly mentioned the case with Urdangarin--the king's son-in-law. The fraud case being brought against him has been in the news throughout this year so I thought that I should explain in more detail what's going on.

Iñaki Urdangarin is the son of an important Basque family. When he was younger, he had a career as a professional handball player--playing in several Olympic Games. It was actually at the Olympic Games that he met the Infanta Cristina--the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos. They eventually got married and had four children.

In the last year, Urdangarin has been accused of embezzling funds from his non-profit Nóos Institute.

Urdangarin is accused of using his position to get contracts (from small regional governments) and money for his company--which was supposedly a nonprofit--to organize sports related conferences. The work that the "nonprofit" was contracted out to for-profit companies that Urdangarin controlled and the work was either never was completed or ridiculously over-budgeted. It's estimated that between 2004-2006 he received nearly 6 million euros or $8 million for these "projects." That money then ended up in overseas tax havens in Belize and the United Kingdom. 


Since the scandal started in November/December 2011, the Royal Family has cut off ties with Urdangarin and not allowed him to attend functions with them. In his Christmas speech, the king mentioned that "justice is for all" effectively abandoning Urdangarin to his fate. 

A few days ago, rumors are circulating that Urdangarin and his business partner Diego Torres have offered to plead guilty and return all the money they embezzled in exchange for no prison time. These men will have to return 3.5 million euros--though it's not certain who will have to pay the majority of that quantity. However, Urdangarin denies that there will be a plea bargain.

This is yet another embarrassment for the Spanish Royal Family this year. The Spanish people are understandably upset. The unemployment rate is one of the worst in Europe and is nearly 50 percent amongst Spanish young people.