AMN/ WEB DESK
Former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Spain’s Former Deputy Prime Minister, Rodrigo Rato, was 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. Investigators revealed that Rato had concealed assets across multiple jurisdictions, including the Bahamas, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. Investigators also uncovered over 15 million Euros in undeclared funds and capital gains.
Prosecutors alleged that in the decade between 2005 and 2015, Rato defrauded the Spanish tax office and lined his own pockets to the tune of 8.5 million Euros. The court also found that Rato exploited a 2012 tax amnesty introduced by Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) government, but failed to declare any of the companies he owned.
This marks Rato’s second prison sentence. In February 2017, he was sentenced to four years and six months for using a secret corporate credit card for over 500 undeclared purchases and cash withdrawals while serving as CEO of the failed Bankia savings bank. He served two years in prison from October 2018 to October 2020.
Rato served as deputy prime minister and minister of the economy during Jose Maria Aznar’s People’s Party (PP) government from 1996 to 2004.