The trial of Princess Cristina, the sixth in line to the Spanish throne, for fraud charges is set to begin today in Palma, Majorca.
Princess Cristina, 50, will be the first member of the country’s royal family to go on trial.
She is being tried for tax fraud, having being accused of being an accomplice to her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who allegedly hid behind his non-profit Noos Institute sport foundation to falsely win inflated contracts from regional governments and then channel the proceeds to his personal accounts through tax havens.
She was a board member of the foundation, as well as a real-estate company Aizoon which she co-founded with her husband.
Prosecutors believe that Aizoon was used to launder embezzled funds.
Sixteen others are also being put on trial alongside the couple.
The amount of public funds that have been paid to the Noos Institute total $6.1 million.
The first of the royal family to be put on trial since the restoration of the monarchy in the 1970s, if convicted by the three-member bench, the princess faces up to eight years in jail.
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