€18 million collateral for Rato’s accounts

A JUDGE overseeing the fraud and money laundering case involving former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato has ordered him to put up €18 million as collateral to unblock his financial accounts.
Rato headed the IMF from 2004 to 2007 and was a leading figure in Spain’s ruling Popular Party, which was hit hard by the case before the weekend’s nationwide regional and local elections.
The judge set the amount last week, a month after Rato’s accounts were frozen by court order following his brief detention and a police search of his home and office.
Rato was economy minister under conservative ex-Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar between 1996 and 2004, and had been seen as a possible successor.