Elsa Maishman (Reporter)
FORMER IMF chief Rodrigo Rato has been convicted of misappropriation of funds.
Rato, who headed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 to 2007, has been sentenced to four and a half years.
The former Partido Popular finance minister and an ex-chairman of Caja Madrid is one of 65 officials found guilty over their use of complimentary credit cards.
Between 1999 and 2012, high-ranking officials at Caja Madrid (which later merged to form Bankia) were given credit cards that drew from a bank fund.
The cards were used to splash €15.5 million on personal expenses, which did not show up on bank documents, job contracts or tax returns.
“Rodrigo Rato given four and a half years” yet he did not go to jail. How can someone be sentenced to four and half years in prison, then walk free? Spanish justice in a nutshell.