06/04/2013 00:00
TW
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Palma.—Even sources for the royal household said that the palace was “surprised” that the 47-year-old Princess had been issued with a summons.
While the royal palace has the “maximum respect” for the decision “it wants to express its surprise at the change in position” by the investigating judge who in March 2012 declined to implicate the Princess in the case, a spokesperson for the royal palace said. And her brother, Crown Prince Felipe, addressing 231 new judges in Barcelona yesterday highlighted the importance of justice “in complex times, like the present” and has encouraged new judges to perform their duties with “wisdom and strength”, recalling that members of the judiciary are “worth the utmost confidence.” Affects Spain's image
But the Spanish government is also deeply concerned about the fact that one of the King's daughters has been implicated in a corruption case, the foreign minister said yesterday.

Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo said the summoning of Princess Cristina affected the entire country's image and urged that the case be resolved rapidly. “Anything that affects an institution that has been so important in Spain's transition (from dictatorship to democracy) and which is so important for Spain's image abroad, causes enormous concern,” Margallo told reporters.

The Princess, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos, has not been charged but must appear for questioning here in Palma by Judge Jose Castro at 10am on April 27.

But, the Anti-corruption Prosecution is going to appeal against the summons on the grounds of a lack of evidence within the allotted five days and that could lead to the Princess's appearance in court being postponed, if not the summons being quashed all together.

The investigation centres on whether her husband Iñaki Urdangarin and his former business partner funneled about six million euros in public funds via the nonprofit Noos Institute they ran into private businesses they controlled. “It's imperative that the judiciary should get to the bottom of the Noos case, not just because it's a serious case of corruption but rather because it's a scandal that is causing considerable damage to the prestige of the monarchy,” the leading newspaper El Pais wrote in an editorial yesterday.

Troubles
The royal family's troubles and corruption scandals affecting the country's two main political parties have greatly irked Spaniards, who are suffering through an economic crisis that has sent unemployment soaring to 26 percent.

Previously both the judge and the prosecutor had agreed there was not enough cause to call the princess in for questioning but the magistrate said new information had changed his mind.

The judge said while there was no indication that the princess took an active part in her husband's businesses, she was a board member on two of his companies and there was evidence she knew that Urdangarin used her name and status in his dealings, which benefited both of them.

80 percent back judge
Castro said such evidence could lead the princess to be classified as an accomplice.
Urdangarin, 45, has already been questioned twice in Palma by Castro since the probe began two years ago.
The royal family last year sidelined him from all official duties.
The princess went to work as normal yesterday at the Caixa bank foundation in Barcelona but did not comment on the case.
She is seventh in the line of succession but that does not appear to be swinging public opinion.
One poll taken yesterday morning resulted with 80 percent of respondents agreeing that the Judge has made the correct decision.