Saturday, April 06, 2013

MALLORCA TODAY - The whole case against Urdangarin will be archived?

If you don't read Spanish well, the link to this article might prove a bit difficult. You can try putting into Google Translate and it will make some sense and probably sufficient to get the gist. Written by the excellent Matías Vallés, it suggests that the state prosecutor wants the case against Princess Cristina and her private secretary, Carlos García Revenga, to be archived, i.e. case not proven, everyone forgets about it, and Urdangarin's defence "smoothed".

Vallés says that he was originally against the indictment of Princess Cristina but that he has been persuaded to think otherwise by the Torres emails. I don't know that I agree with him. On the basis of what has been published by "El Pais" of the emails, I don't feel they are as damaging as is being made out, but there is always the possibility that emails that haven't been disclosed are potentially more harmful. Regardless of this, however, there is, as I have said in a previous article, good reason for the Princess to answer questions, if only regarding a possible abuse of her position, which is not the same as the principal allegations that have been made.

Vallés, though, sees the suspension of the subpoena of Princess Cristina as a step in the archiving of the case, and he may of course be right. The problem is that, as soon as Judge Castro issued the subpoena, to go back on it would potentially be more harmful than the Princess having to appear before him. The Spanish Government may worry about the harm being caused to the country's image because of the case, but the harm will be greater if it appears that there has been some form of stitch-up and the case is dropped.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

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