Former IMF head accused of Misusing Company Credit Card

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NYTimes

The former chairman of Bankia, the giant mortgage lender whose near-collapse in 2012 plunged Spain into a crisis that required an international bailout, has been accused, along with dozens of others, of making lavish personal use of the company’s credit cards.

The former chairman, Rodrigo Rato, also a former head of the International Monetary Fund and still a prominent business figure in Spain, was subpoenaed on Wednesday along with his predecessor at the bank, Miguel Blesa.

A judge has ordered them to appear on Oct. 16 before Spain’s national court to answer allegations that they misused their credit-card privileges while at the bank and that over the years, they provided dozens of members of the board with unauthorized company credit cards. Prosecutors said the cards were used for personal purchases, including clothing and travel, as well as cash withdrawals.

According to prosecutors, Mr. Rato, 65 and a former finance minister of Spain, had 54,800 euros, or about $69,200, in unauthorized spending. They accuse Mr. Blesa, 67, of spending about eight times as much: €436,700.

In all, prosecutors say, audited documents indicate the personal spending by the executives and directors totaled €15.25 million.

Mr. Rato has declined to comment on the credit card controversy, but according to Spanish news media reports, he is among those who have returned money spent with the credit cards.

The bank’s credit card system is being investigated by Spain’s national court separately from a broader case that began two years ago to examine whether former managers of Bankia misstated earnings and brought the lender close to a collapse that resulted in the need for a €40 billion European bailout in 2012.

The prosecution’s audit covered 86 users of the credit cards, many of whom were connected to Spanish politics, trade unions and even the royal family, as part of a Spanish financial system in which savings banks like Bankia were closely controlled by politicians.

The judge, Fernando Andreu, on Wednesday subpoenaed Ildefonso Sánchez Barcoj, a former director general of Caja Madrid, who is accused of personal spending totaling €484,200 with the bank’s credit card. Caja Madrid was the largest among the seven savings banks, or cajas, that merged to form Bankia in 2011.

Spain’s budget ministry said last week it would investigate other major corporations listed on the main Ibex stock market index to see whether they also allowed directors to finance private purchases with corporate credit cards.

Mr. Blesa was chairman of Caja Madrid for 13 years, before being replaced in 2010 by Mr. Rato, who had also been finance minister in the conservative government of José María Aznar, which was in office from 1996 to 2004. Mr. Rato then led the I.M.F. from 2004 to 2007, getting the Washington-based job thanks to his reputation for presiding over the early stages of Spain’s construction-led boom.

The Bankia merger was coordinated by Mr. Rato as a way to consolidate the caja sector after the bursting of Spain’s real estate construction bubble in 2008. The idea was to let stronger entities like Caja Madrid absorb the losses of weaker ones threatened by their exposure to problem real estate loans.

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Instead, Bankia ended up requiring about half of the European bailout, after posting a loss for 2012 of €19.2 billion, a record for the Spanish banking industry.

Mr. Rato resigned just before the state nationalized Bankia in May 2012. Last year, a slimmed-down Bankia returned to profit, under new management.

In July 2012, nearly three dozen former Bankia executives and board members, including Mr. Rato, appeared in court in a criminal inquiry into whether they misrepresented Bankia’s financial soundness as the bank was preparing a public stock offering. The former Bankia executives deny wrongdoing in the case, which is continuing.

Since then, Mr. Rato has managed to return to Spain’s corporate scene as a board member of two of its largest companies, Telefónica and Banco Santander, as well as of a real estate subsidiary of Caixabank.

Since the scandal emerged last week, a dozen former directors implicated in the audit have resigned or lost their current jobs. All have denied wrongdoing, though, saying they used their cards within rules set by the bank and were unaware that it could be considered fraud.

Among the ex-directors is Pablo Abejas, who was ousted from the Madrid regional economy ministry, and José Ricardo Martínez, who quit as a leader of the powerful union U.G.T. in Madrid.

Rafael Spottorno, who managed Spain’s royal household under King Juan Carlos, presented his resignation on Tuesday as an adviser to the new king, Felipe VI, saying he did not want the monarchy to be tainted by his personal behavior. Mr. Spottorno is accused of spending €223,900 with the credit card.

Mr. Blesa has not commented on the credit card allegations. He is the subject of a separate case, in which he is accused of letting Caja Madrid buy the City National Bank of Florida in 2008 at an inflated price without doing due diligence and checking into City National’s underlying liabilities. Mr. Blesa has said his oversight of the City National deal followed standard procedures.