Rob Horgan
SPAIN’S Princess Cristina has lost her appeal against tax fraud charges and will testify in court this month.
The Princess is one of 18 defendants charged in a corruption trial, also featuring her husband Iñaki Urdangarin, an Olympic handball medallist turned businessman.
Cristina’s lawyers last month said all charges against their client should be thrown out as government officials agreed she had committed no crime.
Instead her lawyers are trying to lessen her charges to an administrative tax evasion fine, which would not require a trial.
However the ruling judge rejected the appeal and Cristina, 50, will face two counts of tax fraud, carrying a maximum prison sentence of eight years, for allegedly failing to declare taxes on personal expenses paid by a property company she owned with her husband.
She will next appear in court on February 9, but is expected to be the last person to testify with proceedings scheduled to end February 26.
