Ex-IMF chief Rato sentenced to new prison term over corruption

A Madrid court has sentenced former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato to almost five years in prison for various crimes related to corruption, the court said Friday.

Rato, who had already spent two years in prison over a separate embezzlement case during his tenure as chairman of Spanish lender Bankia, has denied any wrongdoing throughout the nine-year probe.

Following a year-long trial, the court convicted Rato on three counts of offences against Spanish tax authorities, as well as corruption involving individuals outside the public sector, and money laundering. It sentenced him to four years, nine months and a day in prison.

Since the decision can be challenged on appeal before the Supreme Court, Rato will not have to serve any prison time for now until there is a final ruling, a court spokesperson said.

Rato, 75, who chaired the IMF from 2004 to 2007 and Bankia between 2010 and 2012, previously spent two years in prison after being convicted in 2017 over the misuse of Bankia credit cards to buy jewels, holidays and expensive clothes.

In the more recent corruption case, prosecutors had requested a total jail sentence of 63 years for the 11 charges against him.



Reuters