King of Spain's brother-in-law avoids prison for time being

Inaki Urdangarin, the brother-in-law of King Felipe VI of Spain who was condemned to six years and three months in jail on Feb. 17 for his part in the Noos Corruption scandal will not have to go to prison for the time being, nor will he have to pay bail.

The decision was taken by the Court in Palma de Mallorca where the high-profile trial over the siphoning off of over six million euros of public funds by the Noos Institute jointly run by Urdangarin and his partner Diego Torres, took place.

The judges overseeing the case dismissed the prosecution's request for Urdangarin to post bail of 200,000 euros (211,000 U.S. dollars) and for Torres, who received a sentence of over eight years for his role in the scandal, to post bail of 100,000 euros.

They ruled that Urdangarin can for the moment continue living in the Swiss city of Geneva with his wife the Infanta Cristiana de Borbon as long as he reports to local authorities on the first day of every month.

The sister of King Felipe was absolved of charges against her on Friday last week, although she was fined 265,000 euros as she had benefitted economically from money earned through fraudulent means.

Urdangarin can appeal his conviction for embezzlement, fraud, influence peddling and tax crimes to the Spanish Supreme Court with the appeal case expected to last several months if he decides to go ahead with it.

Speaking on Monday to radio station Onda Cero, Pedro Horrach, the state prosecutor in the Noos case, has implied he could request prison for Urdangarin, adding that the Spanish Anti-Corruption Office usually requests preventive prison for those who have been given jail terms of over five years.

In the end Horrach merely asked for Urdangarin to post bail and even this request was rejected. (1 euro=1.06 U.S. dollar) Endit