The Prosecutor's Office leaves the jail request for Rodrigo Rato at 63 years | Economy | EUROtoday

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has requested this Friday 63 years in jail for Rodrigo Rato, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and vice chairman of the Government with José María Aznar (PP), throughout the oral listening to held within the Madrid Court in opposition to the previous politician for the alleged illicit origin of his fortune. The public ministry, which has additionally claimed a advantageous of 42 million for him, communicated to the courtroom this morning its remaining conclusions, the place it attributes a complete of 11 tax crimes to the previous common chief, one other of cash laundering and one other of corruption between people. Prosecutor Elena Lorente thus minimally reduces her preliminary request, which amounted to 70 years in jail and included two different crimes (punishable insolvency and doc falsification), which have been withdrawn.

In its definitive conclusions doc, to which EL PAÍS had entry, Anticorrupción emphasizes that the previous PP politician, whereas boasting of a “lawful way of life” within the face of public opinion and “apparent transparency about his tax behavior before the Spanish Treasury”, “carried out underhanded management of companies whose primary purpose has been tax evasion”, “both in Spain and abroad”. “Thus, since at least 1999 and until 2015, he has managed, on the one hand, an enormous asset abroad, with constant investments and reinvestments, unknown to the public treasury, and, on the other hand, he has evaded paying taxes. for their professional services, sheltering behind a network of interrelated companies,” specifies the general public ministry.

“The accused has sought, on purpose and with fraudulent intent, the non-payment of taxes, for which he has used a national and international corporate network managed by him,” emphasizes the Prosecutor's Office, which throughout the trial has tried to reveal that Rato concocted a fancy enterprise construction with a mess of tentacles to blur the define of a “large amount of money and financial assets.” Also, that he carried out “financial investment activities through a multitude of bank accounts opened in the Bahamas, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Monaco, among other places.” Furthermore, Anticorruption provides that, throughout his time as president of Caja Madrid and Bankia, the previous vice chairman of the Executive charged unlawful “commissions” for the awarding of promoting contracts.

In addition to the excessive jail sentences, Anti-Corruption requests that Rato be fined 42.44 million euros – 19.94 million for the tax crimes; 20 million for cash laundering; and a pair of.5 million for corruption between people. Likewise, the Prosecutor's Office proposes that the previous Minister of Economy and Finance, whom the PP praised as an emblem of the Spanish “economic miracle” that the conservatives boasted about, pay compensation to the Treasury of seven.7 million euros, which he must face collectively with different defendants.

The trial in opposition to Rodrigo Rato, who’s accompanied by one other dozen individuals on the bench, is in its remaining part. The oral listening to started final December. And, after months of interrogating witnesses and consultants, the accused started to testify on April 10. The first to take action was the previous managing director of the IMF, the primary defendant, who described the accusations in opposition to him as “fabulations”, along with harshly attacking the prosecutor, the State Attorney's Office and the Treasury technicians. . “This case is the search for the lost treasure,” mentioned the previous politician mockingly, who asks for his complete absolution.

After this Thursday's session, the oral listening to now goes right into a break. The trial will resume on May 6, when the events will start to current their remaining stories (this part is anticipated to final a number of days). Once everybody is completed, the accused will be capable to use their proper to the final phrase.

Other key figures

The Prosecutor's Office not solely places Rato within the highlight. He accuses 12 different people and three authorized entities. Among them is the lawyer Domingo Plazas, whom Anticorruption considers the previous vice chairman's tax advisor, though each deny it. According to what the previous politician mentioned on the trial, he alone entrusted Plaza's workplace with the 2012 tax regularization, which he activated to profit from the tax amnesty promoted by the Government of Mariano Rajoy. For Plazas, prosecutor Elena Lorente asks for 52 and a half years in jail for 11 tax crimes (between 2004 and 2015), cash laundering and enterprise corruption.

Anti-corruption additionally maintains the accusation in opposition to the shut circle of the previous PP chief. He calls for three years in jail for Teresa Arellano, who was his secretary for many years, and for José Manuel Fernández Norniella, who was Rato's trusted man throughout his time within the Government and in Bankia. He attributes corruption in enterprise to each. For the identical crime, the general public ministry requests 4 years in jail for Alberto Portuondo, whom it considers the entrance man of the previous Minister of Economy. The doc of conclusions additionally contemplates one other 5 years of imprisonment for the ex-brother-in-law of the previous politician, Santiago Alarcó, for the crime of cash laundering, understanding that he managed Rato's fortune overseas.

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