Ex-IMF Director Accused of Money Laundering and Tax Fraud

Spanish Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday charged Rodrigo Rato, who was vice president of the Spanish government (1996-2004) and managing director of the International Monetary Fund (2004-2007), with eleven tax crimes, money laundering, punishable insolvency, corruption, and false documentation.

RELATED:

Argentina: Macri Denounced for Fraud in Managing $55bn IMF Loan

Between 2005 and 2015, he increased his wealth by US$18.5 million, a figure that could not be justified according to the Prosecutor's Office. Rato also did not declare the yields obtained from a capital abroad and would have defrauded some US$10 million in taxes.

The former IMF Director would have hidden his wealth since 1999 through various companies and bank accounts in tax havens located in Bahamas, Switzerland, United States, Isle of Man, Kuwait, Curacao, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Monaco.

Although Rato took advantage of a tax amnesty in 2012, he did not mention the operations carried out through these companies and declared a net worth of only US$136,808.

The Spanish authorities also detected "rational indications" that Rato improperly received commissions from advertising contracts when he was the Caja Madrid-Bankia chairman.

Rato has been involved in several legal proceedings. In 2018, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for misappropriation in a bank card case. In February, however, a judge granted him probation arguing that he is 72 years old.

In 2020 he was acquitted for the alleged fraudulent IPO of Bankia, although the case is pending appeals from several accusations.