World
21:23, 03-Oct-2018
Spain court confirms 4.5-year jail term for ex-IMF chief Rato
Updated
20:50, 06-Oct-2018
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Former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato will have to serve a four-and-a-half year jail sentence for misusing funds, Spain's Supreme Court confirmed on Wednesday.
Rato was sentenced in 2017 by Spain's High Court for misusing company credit cards for personal expenses while he worked at lender Bankia.
Former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato arrives for trial at the High Court where he and some 66 executives and former board members of Bankia and its founding savings bank Caja Madrid are accused of illegally spending 12 million euros for personal use on so-called "black cards" between 2003 and 2012, in San Fernando de Henares, outside Madrid, Spain, October 4, 2016. /VCG Photo
Former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato arrives for trial at the High Court where he and some 66 executives and former board members of Bankia and its founding savings bank Caja Madrid are accused of illegally spending 12 million euros for personal use on so-called "black cards" between 2003 and 2012, in San Fernando de Henares, outside Madrid, Spain, October 4, 2016. /VCG Photo
Back at the time, Rato had appealed the ruling and denied any wrongdoing, arguing the expenses he accrued on the Bankia credit cards were legal.
The case is one of several high-profile corruption investigations now coming to fruition and has been perceived as a test of whether Spain's rich and powerful are being held accountable before the law.