After years of scandals and proceedings, the verdict of Infante Cristina of Spain and her husband's trial was finally known. The sister of King Felipe VI was acquitted of the two tax crimes linked to the malfeasance of the case "Noos"; But was fined € 265,000 for joint responsibility with her husband, the main accused who was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for embezzlement, fraud and trading in influence, and a fine of 512,000 euros. The prosecution requested against him 19 years and six months of imprisonment.

Inaki Urdangarin, 49, a former Olympic handball medalist, was accused of embezzlement with a partner (sentenced to eight years) when he chaired the Noos Institute, a non-profit foundation. Taking advantage of his position as son-in-law to King Juan Carlos, Urdangarin easily obtained subsidies and public contracts for Noos from the Balearic and Valencia regional governments, then led by the Popular Party (right) between 2004 and 2006, And diverted nearly six million euros. A two-day Tourism and Sport Congress had been charged 1.2 million euros, "a completely disproportionate price" based on a "fictitious budget", according to the prosecution. According to the file, part of the funds diverted had been transferred to a joint company owned by Inaki and Cristina.


In January 2016, Cristina de Bourbon was the first member of the royal family to appear before a court. The three judges will have taken more than seven months to render their judgment in this ultra sensitive case for the monarchy. The trial of the seventeen suspects lasted more than five months, constantly under the eye of the media retransmitting certain hearings live on the Internet. Inaki, emaciated, and Cristina, mute most often, had both made low profile. Because outside the court, Spaniards demanded that they be tried "like any other citizen".

The investigating judge had insisted that the infant be prosecuted for complicity in tax evasion, while the Treasury and the public prosecutor considered that it had committed no offense. The princess was finally judged only on complaint from a taxpayer defense group, Hands own, considered extreme right, who claims eight years in prison against her. A huge drama nevertheless marked the trial when the leader of Clean Hands was incarcerated, suspected of having co-directed a vast system of extortion. Cristina's lawyers accused him of attempting blackmail, assuring that he had claimed millions against a withdrawal of the complaint.


Throughout the trial, prosecutor Pedro Horrach will have clearly defended Cristina. "It would be a surprise for me if it were condemned," he insisted in November before journalists. The Infanta has always said that she knew nothing about the cases mentioned at the trial and had fully confided in Inaki, her husband for nearly twenty years and the father of her four children.


The Noos scandal broke out in 2011 when Spain was experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. Exiled since 2009 with her family - in Washington then in Geneva - Cristina had gone from the status of "modern Infante, so beloved, to suspected thief", summed up in 2015 her friend Rosario Nadal in Vanity Fair. The scandal had accentuated the fall of popularity of King Juan Carlos I who had finally abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son Felipe. Since then, the sovereign has publicly distanced himself from his sister , who has been banned from all official acts.