The touch lasted only a few seconds, here but it will be seared into the mind of Rodrigo Rato — and of millions of Spaniards — for years to come.
It happened as the former head of the International Monetary Fund was climbing into the back of a police car late on Thursday, viagra to be whisked off for further questioning by prosecutors and tax investigators. Rather than let Mr Rato do this simple task himself, visit an unnamed law enforcement official placed his hand on the neck of the detainee and pushed him down.
Whether made consciously or not, the gesture removed whatever dignity Mr Rato was trying to preserve at this moment of public humiliation. The footage was replayed endlessly on television on Thursday night, and the image went on to dominate the front pages of Spain’s newspapers on Friday.
Over the years, Spaniards have become used to seeing top bankers in court and senior politicians in jail — but Mr Rato’s disgrace is in a different category. As the former head of the IMF, ex-finance minister, ex-deputy prime minister and the former chairman of one of Spain’s largest banks, Mr Rato spent more than two decades close to the pinnacle of the country’s power structure. And yet, unlike many of his peers facing legal troubles, the authorities made no effort to spare him a public shaming.
“The precise moment in which the customs agent grabs his head .?.?. marks a point of no return, in which we leave behind an era,” El Mundo newspaper said in an editorial.
The case against Mr Rato centres on suspicions that he engaged in tax fraud, money laundering and asset stripping. But it is only the latest in a growing list of investigations: he has already been declared a formal suspect in two cases dating back to his time as chairman of Bankia, thefinancial group that was saved from collapse in 2012 thanks to a €22bn government bailout. He is under investigation both for his role in the ill-fated flotation of the lender, and for the bank’s widespread use of off-the-books corporate credit cards that were used by senior staff to cover personal expenses.
The case against Mr Rato centres on suspicions that he engaged in tax fraud, money laundering and asset stripping. But it is only the latest in a growing list of investigations
Mr Rato has not been formally charged or named an official suspect in the tax case, and was released from detention early on Friday. “I am home and I am free,” he told Spanish media, adding that he was co-operating with the authorities and had “full confidence” in the Spanish justice system.
For Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, and his ruling Popular party, the latest scandal around one of its former grandees could not have come at a worse time. The party faces regional and local elections next month, and a general election towards the end of the year. Polls show that the PP’s normally loyal voters are preparing to abandon the centre-right movement in droves — not least because of disappointment over the recent string of corruption scandals.
In recent years, PP leaders have sought to maintain a distance from Mr Rato, but he remains — at least in the minds of ordinary Spaniards — closely associated with the party. Esperanza Aguirre, a powerful PP figure and the party’s candidate for the Madrid municipal elections next month, predicted on Friday that the Rato scandal would inflict “a lot of damage” on her party.
For Mr Rato personally, the events since Thursday afternoon will have offered a painful reminder of his family’s history. The scion of a wealthy, influential family from Asturias, Mr Rato was 17 years old when his own father was held for fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to three years in prison.
It is far from clear whether Mr Rato, too, will end up behind bars. But his fall from grace has been no less spectacular, and — thanks to the media — far more public: a few days before his detention, a Spanish website published footage of Mr Rato being hounded at Madrid airport by fellow travellers, who followed him with camera phones, yelling abuse. When he emerged on Friday afternoon to witness another police search of his office, Mr Rato was again showered with insults from bystanders.
The former IMF chief, dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and striped tie, remained silent throughout.
