Rodrigo Rato

Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo (born 18 March 1949) is a conservative Spanish politician and banker who served in the government of Spain as Minister of Economy and as a vice president from 1996 to 2004. He was managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 to 2007 and president of Bankia between 2010 and 2012.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Rato and the second or maternal family name is Figaredo.

Rodrigo Rato
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
In office 7 June 2004 – 1 November 2007
Preceded by	Anne Osborn Krueger (Acting)
Succeeded by	Dominique Strauss-Kahn
First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office 3 September 2003 – 17 April 2004
Prime Minister	José María Aznar
Preceded by	Mariano Rajoy
Succeeded by	María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
Minister of Economy
In office 27 April 2000 – 17 April 2004
Prime Minister	José María Aznar
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Pedro Solbes
Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office 6 May 1996 – 4 September 2003
Prime Minister	José María Aznar
Preceded by	Juan Antonio García Díez
Succeeded by	Javier Arenas
Minister of Economy and Finance
In office 5 May 1996 – 27 April 2000
Prime Minister	José María Aznar
Preceded by	Pedro Solbes
Succeeded by	Cristóbal Montoro (Finance)
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office 21 November 1989 – 12 May 2004
Constituency	Madrid
In office 28 October 1982 – 21 November 1989
Constituency	Cádiz
Personal details
Born	Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo (1949-03-18) 18 March 1949 Madrid, Spain
Political party	People's Party
Spouse(s)	Gela Alarcó
Children	3
Relatives	Ramón Rato (Father)
Education	Complutense University University of California, Berkeley

Rato was arrested on 16 April 2015 for alleged fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.[1][2] His case was still awaiting trial a year later when his name appeared in the Panama Papers.[3] Despite his prior assurances that he did not own companies in tax havens,[4] apparently he used two offshore companies to avoid taxes on millions of euros kept overseas.[5] It has been alleged that he owes taxes to both the Spanish and Panamanian governments.[6]

On 23 February 2017, Rato was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to 4½ years' imprisonment.[7] In September 2018, the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Spain.,[8] and Rato entered prison on 25 October 2018.[9][10]

Early life and education

Rodrigo de Rato was born in Madrid, into a rich textile-owning family from Asturias. He is the great-grandson of politician Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro y Díaz-Argüelles and the son of businessman Ramón Rato who was jailed in 1967 for tax evasion to Switzerland through his Banco Siero,[11] and of Aurora Figaredo Sela. Both the Rato and the Figaredo sides of his family owned industries and nobility titles.[12][13] Rato attended a Jesuit school before studying law in the Complutense University.

In 1971 Rato went to University of California, Berkeley, and received an MBA in 1974 from the Haas School of Business.

Career

Early beginnings

In 1975 Rato became involved in the family business, first in Fuensanta, an Asturian mineral water company, and then in two Madrid construction firms. He also became involved in expanding the Cadena Rato chain of radio stations.

In 1977 Rato joined the newly formed Popular Alliance (AP), a party containing former ministers of Franco, founded by Manuel Fraga, a close personal friend of his father. In December 1979 Rato was elected to the national executive committee, and became secretary of the AP economic commission. In February 1981 he became one of the party's five Secretaries-General, and was considered to be their economic expert. He supported tight controls on public spending, and an emphasis on the supply side of economics. In October 1982 he won election as an AP member of the Congress of Deputies for Cádiz in spite of having no connection to this Andalucian town. He represented the area until 1989 and subsequently represented Madrid from 1989 to 2000.

The 1982 election handed a loss to the AP, and marked the beginning of the long rule of the PSOE and Felipe González. Until 1984 Rato was the Secretary of the parliamentary group. He then became their economic affairs spokesman where he impressed the party with his attacks on the PSOE's economic policies. He was seen to be on the liberal wing of the party.

When Fraga resigned from the leadership in December 1986 Rato backed Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón who lost the leadership race to Antonio Hernández Mancha, but managed to keep his positions within the party. During these years he also continued his business career in Aguas de Fuensanta; having previously been the CEO of the company from 1978 to 1982, he served as chairman from 1985 to 1991.[14] In June 1989 Fraga again became interim President after the generally acknowledged failure of the leadership of Hernández Mancha. The party became the slightly more inclusive People's Party (PP). Rato was given shared responsibility over the elections with Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Fernández, the new party Secretary General. He was a close supporter of José María Aznar, who was voted as the new PP leader on 4 September.

On 29 October, the PP lost the general election, though his role in the campaign gave him national prominence. Afterwards he was appointed party spokesman. On 2 April 1990 his father sold the family stake in Cadena Rato for 5 billion pesetas. In June 1991 he stopped being President of Fuensanta, but remained on the board until 1993. On 6 June that year the PP lost another general election to PSOE. In the 12th National Congress in January 1996 he was confirmed as one of the three vice secretaries of the party.

Minister of Economy and vice president

Then on 3 March 1996 the PP won the general election. On 4 May Aznar became Prime Minister of Spain, and on 6 May Rato became both second Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance. On 12 March 2000 the PP won again, this time with an absolute majority. His ministries were reorganised, and he gave all his responsibilities to Cristóbal Montoro Romero who became Minister of Finance. In his second term he had to fend off various charges of incompatibility between his public office and his private business interests.

Managing Director of the IMF

Rodrigo Rato meeting with The Republic of Zambia's President H. E Levy Mwanawasa (16 March 2006)

Rato became the managing director of the IMF on 7 June 2004, taking over from Anne Krueger, who had been acting as temporary Managing Director after Horst Köhler, who at that time was nominated (and later elected) President of Germany, resigned the post 4 March 2004.

In June 2007 Rato announced that he would resign from his post the following October, citing personal reasons. On 28 September 2007, the International Monetary Fund's 24 executive directors elected former French Minister for Economics, Finance, and Industry, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, over former Czech Prime Minister Josef Tošovský, to be the new managing director in succession to Rato.

Career in the private sector

Bankia

Rato assumed the presidency of Caja Madrid in 2010, a public savings bank based in the Community of Madrid, and after a merger with other six saving banks he assumed the presidency of the new group now called Bankia. On 7 May 2012, he resigned amid growing concerns about the solvency of the bank. Although the core capital ratio was 10,4%, the Popular Party Government planned to lend about 8 billion euro to the bank to increase its solvency, as was done before throughout Europe (e.g. ING and Northern Rock crisis). Due to his political ties to the governing PP, which decided to inject the funds, Rato resigned.[15] He had his salary cut from €2.3 million to €600,000 annually in 2011 due to new laws for rescued banks.[16]

On 4 July 2012, Rato, along with 30 other former members of the board of directors of Bankia, were charged with accounting irregularities. Bloomberg Businessweek listed Rato as the worst CEO in 2012.[17] In 2011, Bankia had announced profits of €309 million; after Rato resigned, the figure was amended to €3 billion in losses. In October 2014, it became known that between 24 October 2010 to 28 November 2011, Rato made 519 purchases with a secret corporate credit card, spending a total of €99,041. Among these purchases he spent in one day were €3,547 in alcoholic beverages and €1,000 in shoes, along with 16 cash withdrawals of more than €1,000, most of them during the last months of his presidential term.

After a hearing 17 October 2014, the Spanish High Court judge Fernando Andreu assigned civil responsibility for the credit card abuse to Rodrigo Rato and Miguel Blesa. Rato was ordered to pay a bond of €3 million,[18] and was expelled from the People's Party (PP).[19] The case went to court in 2016. On 23 February 2017, he was convicted and sentenced to four and a half years in prison.[20]

Other activities

• International Airlines Group (IAG), Member of the Board of Directors[21]
• Mapfre, Member of the Board of Directors (2010–2012)

References

1. «Rato, detenido en el registro de su vivienda en Madrid por supuestos delitos de fraude y blanqueo.» RTVE. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
2. "Spanish police search home and off ex-IMF chief Rodrigo Rato". BBC News. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
3. Europa Press (18 April 2016). "Rodrigo Rato, también en los 'Papeles de Panamá'". europapress.es.
4. Íñigo de Barrón (17 April 2015). "Rodrigo Rato: "No tengo sociedades en paraísos fiscales ni fuera de la UE"". EL PAÍS.
5. EUROPA PRESS. MADRID (18 April 2016). "Nacional – Rodrigo Rato: Más de 3,6 millones de euros en dos offshore". diariodenavarra.es.
6. "Rodrigo Rato dejó a deber dinero incluso a la Hacienda de Panamá". ELMUNDO. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
7. Jones, Sam (23 January 2017). "Former IMF chief gets four years in jail for embezzlement in Spain". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
8. "El Supremo confirma la condena de 4 años y seis meses de cárcel para Rodrigo Rato por las tarjetas black". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 October 2018.
9. Rodrigo Rato ingresa en la prisión de Soto del Real: "Pido perdón a la sociedad" (in Spanish)
10. Ex-IMF head Rodrigo Rato starts jail term in 'black cards' case
11. El único que dijo 'no' a la tarjeta black, Francisco Verdú. . El Mundo, J. CASTRO VILLACAÑAS, 1 March 2015. Consultado el 9 de mayo de 2018.
12. «Fallece Aurora Figaredo, la madre de Rodrigo Rato, a los 90 años.» La Voz de Asturias.
13. Fondos Familia Figaredo (Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos).
14. Horcajo, Xavier (20 October 2001). "Economía concedió una subvención de 22 millones a Aguas de Fuensanta". El País.
15. "Rato dimite como presidente de Bankia" [Rato resigns as president of Bankia]. El Pais. 7 May 2012.
16. "Rodrigo Rato pasa de ganar 2,3 millones a 600.000 euros". El Mundo.
17. "The Worst CEOs of 2012". Businessweek.
18. "Ex-IMF chief ordered to post €3m bond over Caja Madrid card abuse". El Pais. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
19. El PP da de baja a Rato y a los 12 militantes de las tarjetas opacas. El País (27 October 2014).
20. Jones, Sam (23 January 2017). "Former IMF chief gets four years in jail for embezzlement in Spain". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
21. Board of Directors International Airlines Group (IAG).

External links

Media related to Rodrigo Rato at Wikimedia Commons

• IMF biography
• Meet the New Head of the IMF – Who Is Rodrigo Rato?
• Guardian article on his appointment
• Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)
• Rodrigo de Rato's Project Syndicate op/eds

Party political offices
Preceded by Luis Ramallo	Leader of the People's Party Group in the Congress of Deputies 1989–1996	Succeeded by Luis de Grandes
Political offices
Preceded by Juan Antonio García Díez	Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain 1996–2003	Succeeded by Javier Arenas
Preceded by Pedro Solbes	Ministry of Economy and Finance 1996–2000	Succeeded by Cristóbal Montoro (Finance)
Preceded by Himself (Economy and Finance)	Ministry of Finance 2000–2004	Succeeded by Pedro Solbes (Economy and Finance)
Preceded by Mariano Rajoy	First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain 2003–2004	Succeeded by María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
Business positions
Preceded by Horst Köhler	Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund 2004–2007	Succeeded by Dominique Strauss-Kahn