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Guilty verdict for ex-IMF boss

rodrigoRatoIn the latest corruption trial to rock Spain, a leading former boss of the IMF was found guilty and handed a sentence of four years and six months.

Rodrigo Rato had previously run two Spanish banks.

Spain's National Court, which deals with corruption and financial crime, ruled that he was guilty of embezzlement when he headed up Caja Madrid and Bankia, at a time when both groups were struggling.

The fraud was committed by using undeclared corporate credit cards which cumulatively siphoned off some €12 million between 2003 and 2012. None of the purchases were declared to the tax office.

Sixty-four other bank executives and board members were included in the judgement of guilt.

Records revealed that the charges were made for expensive holidays, luxury garments, nightclub entertainment and supermarket goods.

During Rato’s time at Bankia, some 200,000 small-scale savers lost their money after having been persuaded to convert their savings into shares in advance of Bankia being floated in 2011.

Rato resigned just before Bankia had to be rescued in 2012 at a cost to the taxpayer of €22 billion. Since then Bankia has paid out €1.2 billion in compensation to the savers.

Rato, 67, denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the credit cards were part of executives’ pay deal.

Before his stint at the banks, Rato had been a minister of the economy followed by his appointment to lead the International Monetary Fund from 2004 to 2007.

The Spanish are all too familiar with corruption in high places, but the timing of this scandal caused particular outrage when the news was reported at the height of the country’s economic crisis.

Rato remains at liberty pending a possible appeal.

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Comments  

+4 #2 TT 2017-02-24 09:19
Quoting Rog Williams:


Can we expect anything similar in our lifetimes in Portugal - against say current and ex Guv'nors of the Bank of Portugal -

Highly unlikely, as the Portuguese know that the rot extends right to the top. The wrong-do-ers appear to have sufficient highly placed friends in their pockets, so any similar action would just be throwing good money after bad. Salgado for instance seems to be getting away with a slap on the wrist.
+5 #1 Rog Williams 2017-02-24 07:55
Its worrying to realise that Spain is considered more socially developed than Portugal - yet it took a crowdfunded law suit to jolt the Spaish State into prosecuting this grandee.

Can we expect anything similar in our lifetimes in Portugal - against say current and ex Guv'nors of the Bank of Portugal - or are the Portuguese still too scared to stand up and be counted ?

Spain. Enraged by the near collapse and bailout of Bankia, one of Spain’s largest banks, activists crowdfunded a law suit against Bankia’s former chairman, Rodrigo Rato. Along with a successful raise of €18,359, organizers used Twitter to recruit many Bankia shareholders and former employees to testify in the lawsuit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-lawton/activism-taps-bigtime-cro_b_3439932.html

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