MADRID – Spain's National Court recommends former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato and 31 others should stand trial for fraud and falsifying financial statements in relation to the 2011 flotation of Bankia savings bank, which was later bailed out.
The case comes on top of another in which Rato and 64 others were sentenced for misusing Bankia's corporate credit card.
Bankia initially reported a 2011 profit of 309 million euros ($336 million) but months later showed a 3 billion-euro loss. It was nationalized a year later after a 22-billion-euro rescue.
In his conclusion Thursday, Judge Fernando Andreu cleared Spain's market regulator and the Bank of Spain of responsibility in the case.
Rato, a former Spanish economy minister, was Bankia chairman between 2010 and 2012 and International Monetary Fund chief from 2004 to 2007.
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