ON DAY two of King Felipe's brother-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín's trial for multi-million public fund embezzlement, the accused claimed he 'did not move' without consulting the Royal Household, who 'oversaw his income tax declarations for 12 years'.
Prosecutor Pedro Horrach, who firmly believes Urdangarín's wife, the Infanta Cristina has no case to answer to, flagged up at least a dozen contradictions in the accused's statements.
Urdangarín had previously referred to a meeting with Valencia's ex-mayoress Rita Barberá (PP) in 2004, when he presented his plans for the Valencia Summit event, but during yesterday's (Wednesday's) hearing, he denied having met with her at all.
Urdangarín also denied meeting with former regional president of Valencia, Francisco Camps (PP), despite having said beforehand that he had done so.
His co-director in the Nóos Institute – purportedly a non-profit events organising body – Diego Torres had, according to previous statements by Urdangarín, been the one who decided workers' functions within the group and its linked branches, Nóos Consulting and Aizoon; but yesterday, he claimed this was not the case.
And having recently explained how the estimate for the Balearic Islands' cycling team's office was drafted by sports law specialist Juan Pablo Molinero with Torres' agreement, Urdangarín now says he 'had no way of knowing' whether Torres did, in fact, authorise the costs.
The only areas where Urdangarín remained adamant and stuck to his story were in connection with the finances, invoicing, estimates and tax affairs of the Nóos Institute and his estate agency firm Aizoon – which had no apparent commercial activity – where he said he 'knew nothing about that sort of thing' and 'did not deal with it'; and his wife's involvement.
The Infanta Cristina – King Felipe's youngest sister – who is also facing trial, was the owner of 50% of Aizoon, and her husband owned the other half.
Urdangarín, however, insists his wife had no involvement whatsoever in Aizoon's or the Nóos' affairs, and was merely named on the former for 'personal and sentimental' reasons.
He admitted to having followed the advice of the Nóos' company secretary, Torres' brother-in-law Miguel Tejeiro and the accountant, Antonio Tejeiro and 'helped to put in practice' what he called the 'fiscal strategy' of the Institute.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com