Urdangarin, Torres do not pay bail, will have properties embargoed

Five days after Spanish judge Jose Castro set bail at €8.2 million for the king's son-in-law and his former business partner for their possible trial in a corruption case, none of them have provided the required amount. They won't go to prison but will likely have properties embargoed.

If neither Iñaki Urdangarin nor his former business partner Diego Torres pointed out any specific property, court officials would set a probe to fix which properties would be enough to cover the bail.

The Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona, worth almost six million euros, could be one of the properties embargoed to the king's son-in-law.

Neither Iñaki Urdangarin nor Diego Torres have been charged with a crime, but are suspects in a case in which they allegedly funneled about €5 million in public funds to companies they controlled.

In a court document, investigating magistrate Judge Jose Castro said Urdangarin and former partner Diego Torres "ignored the rules of public contracting as long as they achieved their aim, which was no other than to divert public funds for their own benefit or that of others."

He said the two agreed to make as much as possible out of Urdangarin's relationship with the Royal Palace in their dealings with public and private entities.

Urdangarin is a former professional and Olympic handball medalist and the deals he landed were for things such as organizing seminars on using sports as a tourism lure.

Urdangarin comes from a wealthy Basque family but is not nobility; he became Duke of Palma because Cristina is Duchess of Palma.

The royal family decided last year to sideline him from all official royal activities, and last week removed him from the family website.