Rato retreats to Buddhist temple

RODRIGO RATO spent six days in a Buddhist temple in Pedreguer, according to Interviu magazine.

Rato was vice-president of the Spanish government and Finance minister before becoming president of the International Monetary Fund. He was president of Bankia between December 2010 until May 2012, when the bank required a €19 billion bailout.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his political past, Rato is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and fiscal offences.

Possibly this accumulation of tribulations prompted Rato to get away from it all and seek spiritual guidance from Alan Wallace, a former collaborator with the Dalai Lama. 

The news of Rato’s Buddhist retreat broke on the same day that he accused Spain’s tax authority Hacienda – the institution that he once headed – of a witch hunt. His alleged offences ‘could and should’ have been verified before they were made public, the former vice-president said.

The temple charged Rato €743 for the course and accommodation, and the centre declined to reveal whether he was a good pupil.

 “That is private information,” said Lama Rinchen Gyaltsen, who is responsible for the Pedreguer centre.