Former IMF Leader Rato Receives Four-Year Prison Sentence for Corruption

Madrid, Dec 21 (NationPress) Rodrigo Rato, the past managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Spain's former deputy prime minister, has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison by the Madrid Provincial Court.

The 75-year-old was found guilty of tax fraud, money laundering, and corruption.

Rato, who held the position of deputy prime minister and was the minister of the economy during Jose Maria Aznar's People's Party (PP) administration from 1996 to 2004, was convicted for concealing assets in bank accounts in locations such as the Bahamas, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom.

Authorities discovered more than 15 million euros ($15.6 million) in unreported funds and capital gains.

During the trial, the 74-year-old former banker acknowledged his understanding of the accusations as he sat alongside 16 other defendants, including family and close associates implicated in assisting him in establishing a fraudulent operation.

Prosecutors claimed that between 2005 and 2015, Rato deceived the Spanish tax office and enriched himself by approximately 8.5 million euros ($9.3 million).

The court also determined that Rato took advantage of a 2012 tax amnesty introduced by Mariano Rajoy's PP government, yet did not declare any of his owned companies, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Spain's Anti-Corruption Office noted that instead of regularizing his finances, Rato utilized the amnesty as a vehicle to launder funds acquired through illegal means.

This incident marks Rato's second prison sentence. In February 2017, he received a sentence of four years and six months for misusing a secret corporate credit card for over 500 undeclared purchases and cash withdrawals while he was the CEO of the defunct Bankia savings bank.

He served two years in prison from October 2018 to October 2020.