Duchess of Palma to testify over Nóos Institute corruption case

KING Juan Carlos' daughter, the Infanta Cristina is finally thought to have been involved in the infamous Nóos Case surrounding her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, and will be called to testify in court on April 27 at 10.00hrs.

Her summons comes just days after Urdangarín's former co-director, Diego Torres, sent new emails to the judge in charge of the money-laundering and corruption trial which hinted at the involvement of the Duchess of Palma in the activities of the Nóos Institute, which was set up as a non-profit-making organisation in order to benefit from public grants but which in fact was anything but.

The emails suggest the Infanta Cristina was consulted by her husband over the activities of the Institute.

Sources from the Zarzuela Royal Palace declined to comment on the matter, saying it was not their policy to make statements concerning 'court decisions'.

Initial suspicions about Cristina – who is an 'Infanta' rather than a 'Princess', like her sister Elena, because she is not an immediate heir to the throne – arose on January 12, 2012 when the national daily newspaper El Mundo published that the Duchess of Palma earned 571,000 euros ion just three years of activity with Aizoon, a company she set up with Urdangarín.

But on March 5, 2012, just days after Urdangarín first testified in court in Palma de Mallorca, Judge José Castro ruled out any involvement of the Infanta Cristina.