Joe Duggan (Reporter)
THE husband of Spain’s Princess Cristina put fake employees on his company’s payroll, a court has heard.
Inaki Urdangarin and business partner Diego Torres used the names of family members and even domestic staff to create bogus workers and salaries.
The pair split the fake salaries between them from their company the Noos Institute, according to former accountant Marco Antonio Tejeiro.
Urdangarin is facing 19 years in prison if convicted in the fraud and embezzlement case at Mallorca Court.
His wife Cristina, who is to give evidence this Friday, is facing an eight-year sentence for fraud.
What we call ‘fraud’ in Spain is viewed by many as ‘our own Spanish tradition.’ A church going woman chided me for not respecting Spanish ways when I refused to pay a construction permit beibe. This is out of the early Guzmán de Alfarache picaresque novel (juan Martí) tradition, that swindling is a cute and clever way to live, and a special is part of Spain’s cultural patrimony.
And to everywhere else their conquistadores went – just take a look at the whole of Central and South America.
”.. a special is part of Spain’s cultural patrimony..”, “..just take a look at the whole of Central and South America..”
… So unlike those former (and current) British colonies that now serve as bastions of democracy, tolerance, jurisprudence, and ethical behavior, like Nigeria, Myanmar, Hong Kong (and Gibraltar)!