Disgraced ex-IMF chief Rodrigo Rato goes on trial for tax evasion

Former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato, found guilty of embezzlement in 2018, faces a new trial in Madrid on charges of corruption, money laundering and tax dodging, with the prosecutor requesting a sentence of over 60 years in prison.

Rato, 74, was sentenced to a four-and-a-half year jail term over the misuse of Bankia credit cards, which were used to buy jewels, holidays and expensive clothes. He served two years in prison and the rest in partial liberty.
 

A former Spanish deputy prime minister, he was acquitted in a separate fraud trial over the listing of Bankia in 2012.
 

The credit card case sparked widespread anger at a time when Spain was recovering from years of recession and a banking crisis partly triggered by Bankia's massive bailout.
 

The current investigation into his personal wealth, which started in 2015 when Spanish judges ordered a search of his Madrid home, follows an investigation into a kickback scheme.
 

He allegedly benefited from the scheme during Bankia's advertising campaigns when he chaired the lender between 2010 and 2012, the prosecutor said.
 

Rato, who has so far denied any wrongdoing, will ask for any evidence obtained through the search of his home to be annulled, according to a document his lawyers sent to the court and seen by Reuters.
 

The trial, which is expected to kick off at 0900 GMT on Friday, is expected to last until May 24, the Madrid court said.
 

Rato, who chaired the IMF between 2004 and 2007 and was deputy prime minister in Spain's conservative PP government between 1996 and 2004, is not expected to testify until April.
 

The prosecutor is requesting prison sentences of between 61 to 83 years for eleven alleged crimes against tax authorities, such as transferring illegal funds back to Spain in which he concealed 8.6 million euros, according to the prosecutor, without informing the tax authorities since 1999.
 

He also faces charges for falsifying documents.
 

For that purpose Rato used so-called shell companies, carrying out continuous financial investment activities through several bank accounts opened in Bahamas, Switzerland, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Monaco, which, according to the prosecutor, were taxable between 2005 to 2015.