Trial of sister of Spanish king starts Jan. 11

The trial of Infanta Cristina, the youngest sister of King Felipe VI of Spain, will start on Jan. 11, 2016, it was confirmed on Tuesday.

Fifty-year-old Cristina will answer to two charges of being an accessory to tax evasion at a court in Palma, Mallorca, as part of the "Noos" corruption scandal.

Next to Cristina in the dock will be her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball champion, who is accused of the fraud and embezzlement of around 6 million euros (6.6 million U.S. dollars) of public funds and Urdangarin's former partner in Noos, Diego Torres.

The alleged crimes were carried out through the Noos Institute, a supposedly non-profit foundation which allegedly used Urdangarin's name and influence to receive many government contracts in the Balearic Islands and elsewhere at inflated prices, or at times for work which was never carried out.

The profits from these operations were then siphoned off through a company, Aizoon, in which both Cristina and Urgangarin were named as directors and for whom Cristina had to sign the relevant papers.

Her defense alleges she did not know what she was signing. Under questioning from the judge investigating the case, she answered: "I don't know" or "I don't remember" to over 500 questions.

The case has been a major cause of embarrassment for the Spanish royal family and was probably one of the reasons King Juan Carlos decided to abdicate in June 2014. However, his successor King Felipe VI has been able to win back some credibility by his attitude to his sister, who was not at his coronation and who has been stripped of her title as "Duchess of Palma." Endit