26 Sep, 2016 @ 14:36
1 min read

Former IMF chief and 64 bankers begin trial for spending millions on company credit cards to fund luxury lifestyles while working at Spanish bank

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rodrigo-rato
Rodrigo Rato

FORMER chief of the International Monetary Fund Rodrigo Rato has begun his trial over an alleged credit card racket at Spain’s Bankia bank.

Rato and 64 other bankers allegedly used ‘unofficial’ company credit cards to make luxury purchases.

Prosecutors claim around €12 million was splashed on hotels, designer clothes, entertainment and travel, all of which were unrelated to their duties.

A lot of the spending occurred while Spain was going through one if the largest financial crises in its history.

Authorities say the purchases were not declared to the Hacienda and that the system began at Caja Madrid bank before being continued by Rato when Bankia was created in 2011.

Bankia had to be bailed out in 2012 at a huge expense to the public.

Rato has denied any wrongdoing.

 

 

Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

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