Former IMF chief Rato stands trial for use of "black" credit cards

The trial of former International Monetary Fund(IMF) chief and deputy Spanish prime minister Rodrigo Rato and 65 other former executives of Spanish banks Bankia and Caja Madrid begins on Monday.

Rato and the other defendants are accused of spending a total of around 12 million euros (around 13.5 million U.S. dollars) between 2003 and 2012, using so-called black credit cards without justifying their expenses or declaring them to Spanish tax authorities.

Rato inherited the system from his predecessor, Miguel Blesa (who is also among the accused), when he took over Caja Madrid in 2010 and is accused of maintaining it when the bank merged with six others in 2011 in order to form Bankia, whose shares were floated on the stock exchange.

The use of the black cards continued as the economic crisis grew in Spain and Rato had to resign in 2011 when Bankia was forced to ask for a bailout of 41 billion euros, which came from the European Union (EU).

As a result of this crisis, thousands of small-scale investors lost their savings after being persuaded by a campaign to convert them into shares in the financial entity. Bankia has so far paid out over a billion euros in compensation after it was ruled the institution misled investors over its true financial situation.

Rato, who was managing director of the IMF between 2004 and 2007 and had been Spain's economy minister, between 1996 and 2004, is accused of using his black credit cards to spend 99,000 euros on a range of items, ranging from alcohol, dinners, five-star hotels and luxury bags.

He denies any offenses, alleging the cards were part of the executive pay deal and for discretionary use, while prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of four and a half years and a 2.6-million-euro fine. Endit