EX IMF chief Rodrigo Rato sentence to 4-5 years in jail for embezzlement

Former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato has been sentenced to
 four-and- a-half years in jail for embezzling money from
 two Spanish banks he used to run.

A court in Madrid found him and more than 60 other 
former bankers guilty of using undeclared corporate credit cards to finance lavish lifestyles.

About €12m (£10.1m; $12.7m) was spent from Caja Madrid and Bankia in 2003-12. Rato, 67, had denied any wrongdoing.

Bankia was rescued in 2012 at huge public expense.

About 200,000 small-scale savers - who had been 
persuaded to convert their savings into shares before 
Bankia's flotation in 2011 - lost their money.

During the trial, Rato argued that the corporate credit 
cards were part of his pay package.

All the card purchases during that period were not declared
 to the tax authorities.

Rato resigned as head of Bankia shortly before its 
near-collapse in 2012.

He led the International Monetary Fund in 2004-07. Before
 that he served as Spain's economy minister.