Spain jails former IMF chief for 4.5 years over embezzlement

‘Spain’s National Court has sentenced former chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo Rato, to four years and six months in jail over his involvement in embezzlement in two major Spanish banks.
The court, which deals with corruption and financial crime cases in Spain, said in its indictment on Thursday that Rato had misused funds during his tenure as head of Caja Madrid and Bankia from 2010 to 2012.
Rato had been accused of splashing out money through credit cards when the two financial groups faced difficulties at the height of Spain’s economic crisis.
The indictment said when Rato took on from Miguel Blesa in 2010, he maintained the “corrupt system” established by his predecessor in Caja Madrid. It said the convict then replicated the system when he took the reins at Bankia, a group born in 2011 out of the merger of Caja Madrid with six other savings banks.’
Read more: Spain jails former IMF chief for 4.5 years over embezzlement