Spanish princess denies implication in corruption scandal

MADRID (Xinhua) - The youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos of Spain, the Infanta Cristina de Borbon, denied on Saturday her implication in the Noos corruption scandal while being questioned by the judge in the courthouse in Palma de Mallorca, capital of the Balearic Islands.

The Infanta Cristina was imputed on Jan. 7 for the second time under suspicion of fiscal fraud and money laundering while managing the funds generated by the business of her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who is also imputed by judge Jose Castro.

According to local media, the Infanta Cristina arrived at the court at 9:45 a.m. local time (0745 GMT) and faced more than six hours of questions by Castro, in which she denied knowing something about Urdangarin's businesses arguing that she "trusted him and signed everything he asked her to sign."

The Noos Institute was originally set up by Urdangarin and his partner Diego Torres as a non-profit organization which had Infanta Cristina as a member of its Board of Directors.

The Noos Institute is accused of swindling over six million euros (8.18 million U.S. dollars) of public money.

This money would have been obtained thanks to Urdangarin position as the son in law of the King of Spain which would have helped him to win contracts, some of them overpriced and even not fulfilled.

The judge is investigating how Undargarin took the earnings to a shell company called Aizoon without paying correct taxes.

Urdangarin and Infanta Cristina co-owned Aizoon, which was used for personal expenses including refurbishing their house in Barcelona and the Infanta salsa lessons.

The princess explained that she did not know how Noos and Aizoon worked because her husband was the one in charge of that, adding that she did not know that salaries of domestic service were paid through Aizoon.

The testimony of Infanta Cristina created a lot of expectancy. She was driven down a ramp to the court thanks to a special permission and walked a few steps before smiling at the high number of journalists who were waiting for her.

Near to the court many people protested, calling for an equal justice under strict security measures.

This corruption scandal has upset a big part of Spanish society who is recovering from a long economic crisis that has caused a high unemployment rate, a high number of evictions and despair.