Ex-IMF chief Rodrigo Rato sentenced to four years in prison

A former head of the International Monetary Fund has been sentenced to four years in a Spanish jail after he was found guilty of the misuse of corporate credit cards during his time in charge of regional state-owned lender Caja Madrid.

Rodrigo Rato, who served as managing director of the IMF between 2004 and 2007, was sentenced after months of trials into his activity as head of the lender in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis.

Bankia was formed after a handful of Spain's state-owned lenders were bailed out in 2012, and Caja Madrid merged with several smaller savings banks in a bid to bulk up their balance sheets.

Rato had faced trial along with 64 other former executives of the banks, including former chairperson of Caja Madrid Miguel Blesa. He also served as the country's economy minister before his term at the IMF, and has deep ties to the country's ruling People's Party.

In total, the defendants were accused of spending €12m on so-called "black" credit cards between 2003 and 2012. The cards were used to pay for lavish parties and expensive restaurants, as Spain struggled with its most acute economic situation in decades.

During the trial, Rato denied any wrongdoing, claiming that he was given his card as part of the company pay package.

"The defendants Miguel Blesa and Rodrigo de Rato Figaredo were aware of the decision they made to allow business cards to circulate (...) with no legal and statutory support, based, as they said, on a principle of trust, which was not the case," the court said in its ruling.