Former IMF head and former Bankia SA Chairman Rodrigo Rato has attributed the bank's failure in 2012 to economic conditions and said his decisions were never criticized by the Bank of Spain, according to Spanish daily El País.
At the closing of the 10-month trial, Rato asked for his acquittal in his final remarks to the court. The anti-corruption prosecution is asking for an 8.5-year jail sentence for Rato for his role in the bank's collapse and alleged fraud connected to the bank's ill-fated stock market listing in 2011.
Bankia was bailed out for more than €20 billion in state funds after it suffered a €19.2 billion loss in 2012 — just a year after the bank listed on the Madrid stock market.
Rato also told the trial that the bank's management had only acted in the interests of shareholders.
He is currently serving a 4.5-year prison sentence after being convicted in a separate case regarding the use of secret Bankia credit cards, known as "black cards."
