63 years in prison requested for former IMF President Rato
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in Spain demanded a prison sentence of 63 years and a fine of 42.4 million euros for former International Monetary Fund (IMF) President Rodrigo Rato on 11 different charges of financial irregularities, money laundering and commercial corruption.
The 75-year-old Rato, who served as the head of the IMF between 2004 and 2007, then became the CEO of Bankia bank (2010-2012), and also served as Minister of Finance (1996-2000) and Minister of Economy (2000-2004) in Spain, has been serving since 2015. He is on trial for numerous charges against him.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested a total of 63 years of imprisonment for Rato, in a case where he was being tried without detention in Madrid: 53 years for 11 different financial crimes, 6 years for money laundering and 4 years for commercial corruption.
The prosecutor’s office also demanded that Rato be fined 42.4 million euros, 20 million euros of which were for tax crimes.
The indictment stated that between 1999 and 2015, Rato “surreptitiously managed companies whose main purpose was tax evasion, both in Spain and abroad.”
“Using the national and international corporate network managed by him, the defendant deliberately and with fraudulent intent requested non-payment of taxes,” the indictment states. The expression was used.
The court is expected to announce its decision in the case on May 6.
Rato was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison in the case of credit card fraud in Caja Madrid and Bankia banks in previous years, was imprisoned in October 2018 and was released in February 2021.