Madrid, Dec 21 (IANS): Rodrigo Rato, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Spain's deputy prime minister, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison by the Madrid Provincial Court.

The 75-year-old was found guilty of tax fraud, money laundering, and corruption.

Rato, who served as deputy prime minister and minister of the economy during Jose Maria Aznar's People's Party (PP) government from 1996 to 2004, was convicted of hiding assets in bank accounts across the Bahamas, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom, among other locations.

Investigators uncovered over 15 million euros ($15.6 million) in undeclared funds and capital gains.

During the hearing, the 74-year-old ex-banker had confirmed understanding the charges against him as he sat on the bench alongside another 16 defendants, among them relatives and close allies accused of helping him set up a fraudulent scheme.

Prosecutors alleged that in the decade between 2005 and 2015, Rato defrauded the Spanish tax office and lined his own pockets to the tune of 8.5 million euros ($9.3 million).

The court also found that Rato exploited a 2012 tax amnesty introduced by Mariano Rajoy's PP government, but failed to declare any of the companies he owned, Xinhua news agency reported.

Spain's Anti-Corruption Office said that instead of regularising his finances, Rato used the amnesty as a means to launder illegally obtained funds.

This marks Rato's second prison sentence. In February 2017, he was sentenced to four years and six months for using a secret corporate credit card for over 500 undeclared purchases and cash withdrawals while serving as CEO of the failed Bankia savings bank.

He served two years in prison from October 2018 to October 2020.