The former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato has been heckled as he arrived to stand trial for allegedly misusing corporate credit cards while in charge of two leading Spanish banks. He is on trial with 64 other former executives and board members at the banks, whose near-collapse sparked an EU bailout of Spain’s financial sector. According to the indictment, Rato maintained the corrupt system established by his predecessor Miguel Blesa when he took the reins at Caja Madrid in 2010. It is alleged that he replicated the system when he took charge of Bankia, a group born in 2011 out of the merger of Caja Madrid with six other savings banks. Rato has denied any wrongdoing and said the credit cards were for discretionary spending as part of the pay deal for executives.

Source: The Guardian September 26, 2016 14:03 UTC