(recast) Noos corruption trial restarts with charges dropped against accountant

The trial of the 'Noos' corruption case, among whom the youngest sister of King Felive VI of Spain is one of the defendants, restarted on Tuesday after a month's adjournment with all charges dropped the former accountant of the Noos Institute, Miguel Tejeiro.

When the trial started on January 11 there were 18 defendants, but the number has now been reduced to 17 after the judges in the court in Palma de Mallorca, where the case is being heard, accepted Tejeiro's arguments that he never had any power to make decisions in the actions of Noos and did not form part of the administrative organisms of the institute.

Tejeiro also explained his had been an "honorary position," which he occupied "without payment" as he considered it to be "an honor and a social privilege" to form part of the Noos Institute.

The Noos Institute, which was run by Inaki Urdangarin, the former Spain international handball player and the husband of the Infanta Cristiana, the youngest sister of King Felive VI of Spain, and his partner Diego Torres, was a supposedly non-profitable organization which Urgangarin and Torres used to allegedly swindle 6 million euros (6.6 million U.S. dollars) of public money through overcharging and charging for work which was never carried out.

Part of that money was then laundered through a company Aizoon, of which Cristiana and Urgangarin were the joint directors, leading to the Infanta facing charges of tax evasion.

The case is expected to last for up to six months with Cristiana facing a sentence of up to eight years if found guilty. Endit