Spain's ex-king Juan Carlos heads for exile under corruption cloud

Yahoo – AFP, August 3, 2020

Spain's former king Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 (AFP Photo/JAIME REINA)

Madrid (AFP) - Spain's former king Juan Carlos, who is facing investigation at home and abroad for corruption, announced Monday that he plans to go into exile.

The 82-year-old revealed he would leave the country in a letter to his son, the current King Felipe VI who accepted his decision, the royal palace said in a statement.

"Guided by the conviction to best serve the people of Spain, its institutions, and you as king, I inform you of my decision at this time to go into exile outside Spain," Juan Carlos wrote.

"It's a decision I take with deep anguish, but great peace of mind," he said.

Probes are under way in Switzerland and Spain where media regularly publish details of the murky management of funds allegedly paid to the former head of state by Saudi Arabia.

Spain's Supreme Court announced in June an investigation to determine the legal responsibility of the ex-monarch -- but because of the immunity he holds only for acts committed after his abdication.

The suspicions focus on $100 million (85 million euros) alleged to have been paid secretly into a Swiss bank account in 2008.

Juan Carlos ascended the throne in 1975 on the death of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco and ruled for 38 years before abdicating in favour of his son Felipe VI in June 2014.

He was a popular figure for decades, playing a key role in the democratic transition from the Franco dictatorship which ruled Spain from 1939-1975.

But an inquiry opened in Spain in September 2018 following the publication of records attributed to German businesswoman Corinna Larsen, allegedly a one-time mistress of Juan Carlos.

She claimed he had received a commission when a consortium of Spanish companies were awarded a high-speed railway contract to link the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Larsen told Swiss investigators he had transferred her nearly 65 million euros in the Bahamas, "not to get rid of the money" but "out of gratitude and out of love", according to El Pais daily.

Swiss media reported last March that Juan Carlos was paid 100 million dollars into a Panamanian foundation's Swiss bank account by then Saudi king Abdullah in 2008.

The same month The Daily Telegraph in Britain reported that Felipe VI was also a beneficiary of the foundation.

The king withdrew from his father an annual royal allowance of nearly 200,000 euros and renounced his inheritance "to preserve the exemplariness of the crown".

Online outlet El Espanol reported that Swiss lawyer Dante Canonica told the Geneva public prosecutor's office he had been instructed to "create a structure" to hide the funds paid to Juan Carlos.

Spanish king distances himself from scandal-hit father

Yahoo – AFP, March 15, 2020

Juan Carlos handed over power to his son, Felipe in 2014 (AFP Photo/Juanjo Martín)

Madrid (AFP) - King Felipe VI of Spain moved Sunday to distance himself from his scandal-hit father, stripping him of his palace allowance and renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

A statement from the palace announced that he had stripped the former king Juan Carlos, of his allowance and was himself renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

The announcement came after media reports that Juan Carlos had received 100 million dollars (90 million euros) from Saudi Arabia via an offshore account -- and that King Felipe himself was also a beneficiary.

The money was lodged in a Swiss bank account in the name of a Panamanian foundation.

In the palace statement, the reigning king said that in April he had made it clear to a notary that he would accept no money from the foundation in question.

He also that he had absolutely no knowledge of having been named as a beneficiary to another foundation, which according to press reports paid millions of euros towards his father's flights in private jets.

On Tuesday, the Spanish parliament decided against launching an investigation into suspected money laundering by the former king Juan Carlos.

Reported Saudi payments to ex-king

Spain's hard-left Podemos party had called for it after reports earlier this month that in 2008 Juan Carlos received $100 million from Saudi king Abdallah via the Swiss account of an entity listed in Panama.

The Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve added that in 2012, $65 million of that sum was given by the king to his former mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Then a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph said that 52-year-old King Felipe was also a beneficiary of the fund, which it said had been set up when Juan Carlos was still on the throne.

Juan Carlos, now 82, came to the throne after the death of the military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and is widely respected for having favoured a transition to democracy.

But he lost his immunity from prosecution after handing power to his son, Felipe, in June 2014 following a 39-year reign.

He resigned from public life last year after a series of scandals about his private life.

In 2012, he outraged Spaniards by going elephant hunting in Botswana at the height of the country's recession.

Spanish reports say Juan Carlos has until now received an annual allowance from the state of more than 194,000 euros.

Allied with far-left, Spain's Sanchez stays on as PM

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel SILVA, January 7, 2020

Sanchez on Sunday lost a first confidence vote having failed to win backing from an
absolute majority in the 350-seat parliament (AFP Photo/PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

Madrid (AFP) - Spain's parliament on Tuesday narrowly confirmed Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister for another term, paving the way for the country's first-ever coalition government since its return to democracy in the 1970s.

Sanchez, who has stayed on as a caretaker premier since inconclusive elections last year, won 167 votes in the 350-seat assembly compared to 165 against, with a decisive 18 abstentions by Catalan and Basque separatist lawmakers.

He plans to form a minority coalition government with hard-left party Podemos this time around, in what would be the first coalition government in Spain since the country returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

Podemos' pony-tailed leader Pablo Iglesias broke into tears after the results of the vote were announced and his lawmakers chanted the party's slogan "Yes we can!".

"A period of moderation, progress and hope opens up today," Sanchez tweeted shortly after the vote

On Sunday, Sanchez lost a first attempt after falling short of the required absolute majority of 176 seats in a first confidence vote in parliament.

Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, has been in political gridlock without a proper government for most of the past year after two inconclusive elections in April and November.

Catalan tensions

Sanchez's Socialists won the November 10 poll but were weakened, taking 120 seats -- three fewer than in April -- in an election which saw upstart far-right party Vox surge into third place.

Sanchez quickly struck a deal with Podemos, which has never governed nationally, to form a coalition government despite having previously said that such a tie-up with the far-left party would keep him awake at night.

The two parties are pledging to lift the minimum wage, raise taxes on high earners and large businesses, and repeal elements of Spain's controversial 2012 labour market reforms that made it easier to fire workers -- measures which business leaders warn will hurt job creation.

With the two parties' combined total of 155 seats still falling short of a majority, Sanchez also secured the support of several smaller regional groups as well the abstention of Catalan separatist party ERC's 13 lawmakers and those of Basque separatist party Bildu's five MPs.

As part of his deal with the ERC, Sanchez agreed to open a formal dialogue with Catalonia's separatist regional government on the future of the wealthy northeastern region, and to then submit the results of the talks to Catalan voters.

The political situation in Catalonia remains in flux following a 2017 independence referendum which Madrid declared unconstitutional.

The Catalan independence push triggered Spain's most serious political crisis post-Franco.

'Worst radicals'

Spain's centre-right parties and Vox accused Sanchez of putting national unity at risk through his pact with the Catalan separatists.

The leader of the main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP), Pablo Casado, warned ahead of the vote that Spain was set to have "the most radical" government.

"Surrendering to the worst radicals may make you prime minister but you will not be able to govern," Casado said during a rare weekend session of parliament called to debate Sanchez's bid to be reappointed premier.

Sanchez's narrow margin for victory led Podemos lawmaker Aina Vidal, who is in severe pain with cancer and had to miss the weekend vote, to turn up for Tuesday's crucial session despite her illness.

"The political landscape remains tricky," ING analyst Steven Trypsteen said.

"The new government (is)... a minority government, the Catalan tensions could flare up again... and the fiscal situation makes it difficult to increase spending a lot."

Until 2015, Spain had essentially a two-party system pitting the Socialists against the PP but the rise of new parties has led to a more fragmented parliament that has made it harder to form a government.

Sanchez came to power in June 2018 after ousting his PP predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote but he was forced to call elections in April after Catalan separatists including the ERC refused to back his draft budget.

Coming home? 132,000 descendants of Spain's exiled Jews seek nationality

Yahoo – AFP, Alvaro VILLALOBOS, October 2, 2019

In 1492, the Spanish crown ordered the country's Jewish community, which numbered
at least 200,000, to either convert to Catholicism or be burned at the stake (AFP Photo)

Madrid (AFP) - More than 500 years ago, they faced a bleak choice: convert to Catholicism or be burned at the stake. The only other option was exile.

For Jews living in Spain at the time, 1492 was a year burned into historical memory when their community of at least 200,000 people were forced into exile.

Now, more than five centuries later, over 132,000 of their descendants have taken advantage of a limited-term offer of Spanish nationality that expired on Monday.

It is a long, complex and costly process involving a lot of paperwork. So far, only 6,000 people have been granted citizenship under the scheme.

The law, which was passed by parliament in October 2015, sought to address what the government has described as a "historic mistake" by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Known as Sephardim -- the Hebrew term for Jews of Spanish origin -- many of the exiles fled to the Ottoman Empire or North Africa and later to Latin America.

Under the legislation, those able to prove their Jewish heritage and their "special connection" to Spain were able to apply for citizenship, with the justice ministry saying it received 132,226 applications.

More than half of them were filed in the past month, when the ministry received some 72,000 applications.

'Taken something from my family'

"They said you didn't need a lawyer but without one, it would have been impossible," said Doreen Alhadeff, a resident of Seattle who obtained Spanish nationality for herself and two grandchildren.

Like all applicants, she had to provide proof of her Sephardic origin. This can be done through genealogical documents or through the local Jewish community.

Those documents then had to be taken personally to Spain to be approved by a local notary -- a process Alhadeff says cost her around $5,000.

"I felt they had taken something important away from my family, and I wanted to get it back," said the 69-year-old.

She remembers while growing up hearing Ladino, a 15th-century language fusing Hebrew and Spanish that is still spoken by Sephardim today.

For Jews living in Spain, 1492 was a year burned into historical memory when a 

community of at least 200,000 people were forced into exile (AFP Photo/GERARD JULIEN)

Others are still waiting to see if their application will be accepted.

Among them is the French writer Pierre Assouline, who has written many books, including one about his Sephardic origins entitled: "Return to Sepharad" -- Hebrew for Spain.

He filed his application nearly four years ago, along with a letter from Spain's King Felipe VI -- but the process is taking longer than expected.

"It's surprising and disappointing," he said.

Most applications came from Latin America, with around 20,000 from Mexico, 15,000 from Venezuela and 14,000 from Colombia, the justice ministry said. Another 4,000 came from Argentina and 3,000 from those in Israel.

Reconnecting with their roots

"We knew since the start that it was going to be a law with some complications regarding the means of proof," admitted Miguel de Lucas, head of Madrid's Centro Sefarad, a meeting place for Jewish communities in the Spanish capital.

But, he added: "It's better to have a law with some complications than no law at all."

Maya Dori, an Israeli lawyer who has lived in Spain for 17 years, has been deeply involved in the process, helping about 500 people from countries as far apart as Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica, England and Turkey.

In helping people track down their ancestry, she had seen many "going on a personal journey, reconnecting with their roots and discovering many things about their families".

In her own case, it took seven years to get citizenship under a previous law dating back to 1924.

Unlike the recent legislation, applicants under that law had to relinquish any other citizenship and were required to live in Spain.

It is not only an attachment to historical ancestry that has provided a draw, says Gonzalo Manglano, head of the Cervantes Institute in Istanbul.

He points to the lure of a European passport for those from countries like Turkey.

"Both things carry a lot of weight," he said.

Although those applying under the new law did not have to be practising Jews, they needed to pass a Spanish language test as well as answering questions on Spain's culture and society.

A similar scheme is running in Portugal which does not require a language exam.

Isaac Querub, president of Spain's Federation of Jewish Communities (FCJE), hailed the legislation as a success, saying the Sephardim could no longer be thought of as "stateless Spaniards".

"Thousands of Sephardim have reclaimed their Spanish nationality and thousands more are in the process of doing so. Spain has closed a historical wound with an enduring act of justice," he said in a statement.

"Spain, as the King (Felipe VI) said (in 2015), has missed them and the Sephardim will never forget that."

Spanish victims of sex abuse priests speak out

Yahoo – AFP, 18 February 2019

As scandals erupted in countries like the United States, Ireland or Australia, complaints
 in Spain were few and far between despite the Church's loss of influence over the
years, particularly with younger generations

A trickle of accusations of sexual abuse against priests in schools and seminaries is starting to erode the wall of silence in Catholic Spain, whose Church representatives are set to attend a major Vatican meeting on child protection.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg," warned Miguel Hurtado, who recently made his case public.

"They're not ready for the tsunami that is coming," the 36-year-old said defiantly.

For 20 years, Hurtado stayed quiet, trying to come to terms with the abuse he suffered when he joined a boy scout troup at the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, which sits high up in jagged mountains northwest of Barcelona.

His alleged abuser, whom Hurtado accuses of fondling him for a year, was a charismatic monk who founded the group and died in 2008.

"I would have reported it earlier but I was a kid and I was too scared," said Hurtado, who revealed his accusations in a Netflix documentary on abuse in Spain's Church.

"The secret was killing me and I needed to come out with the truth, whether people believed me or not."

Since then, nine others have come out to allege they were victims of the same monk and fresh accusations have emerged in religious schools in the Basque Country, various Catalan parishes and in a college in Barcelona.

Even the football world was affected.

On Thursday, Atletico Madrid said it had parted ways with a former monk who once trained its young players after he acknowledged having sexually abused one of his students in the 1970s.

'Discouragement'

The heads of around 100 bishops' conferences from every continent will convene from Thursday to Sunday for the Vatican meeting on the protection of minors.

"There is a chain-reaction... It's easy to imagine that there is a lot hidden that has not yet come out," says Josep Maria Tamarit, a professor in criminal law at the Catalonia Open University who is leading an investigation into the issue.

As scandals erupted in countries like the United States, Ireland or Australia, complaints in Spain were few and far between despite the Church's loss of influence over the years, particularly with younger generations.

Hurtado believes this was down to how Spaniards deal with trauma in general.

"For example, we have dealt with the traumas of the (1936-9) civil war and the (ensuing) dictatorship via omission," he says.

"Forgiving and forgetting as it's part of the past. Leaving it all hidden."

Many allegations that are proved have also either gone past the time limit in which legal proceedings can be initiated or the accused have died, says Tamarit.

"There is a lot of discouragement," he adds.

In 2016, one of Spain's biggest paedophile scandals erupted at schools run by the Marist Roman Catholic community in Barcelona.

Most of the 43 complaints made against 12 teachers were shelved.

Just two teachers ended up facing charges, one of whom was sentenced and the other is awaiting trial.

It's a similar situation in Italy, another Catholic country criticised by a recent United Nations report for "the numerous cases of children having been sexually abused by religious personnel... and the low number of investigations and criminal prosecutions".

Tamarit links this to a certain Catholic mentality which sees all sexual acts as sins and therefore "there is not much difference between any old impure act and abuse of a minor".

"This meant it wasn't made visible and there was no awareness of its importance and seriousness."

Silence 'has to stop'

In Spain though, the recent scandals have pushed the Spanish Church into action.

In October, it announced the creation of a commission to rework its protocol on abuse after being accused of covering up cases by the El Pais daily.

"There has been a kind of silence and the Church has taken part in this silence, which was also a part of society," says Norbert Miracle, spokesman for the bishops' conference in Catalonia and neighbouring Valencia and Andorra.

"But that has to stop."

The justice ministry has also asked prosecutors and religious authorities for a report on all cases of abuse.

In December, it unveiled a new draft bill for child protection that wants the time frame within which legal proceedings can be initiated to start when the victim turns 30 rather than 18 as is the case now, giving victims more time to make their complaints.

But Infancia Robada (Stolen Childhood), the first such victims association created in January, is asking for this time frame to start when the victim turns 50.

"In most recent cases, this time frame wouldn't have been of any use," says founder Juan Cuatrecasas.

Ronaldo avoids jail but hit by hefty fine for tax fraud in Spain

Yahoo – AFP, Diego URDANETA, Jan 22, 2019

Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at the court in Madrid with girlfriend Georgina
Rodriguez (AFP Photo/PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

Madrid (AFP) - Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo avoided jail on Tuesday but was ordered by a Spanish court to pay 3.57 million euros ($4.1 million) for committing tax fraud when at Real Madrid, part of a broader 18.8-million-euro payout.

Sporting sunglasses and a smile, accompanied by his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, Ronaldo arrived at the court in northeastern Madrid for a brief hearing.

He was handed a two-year jail sentence immediately reduced to a fine of 365,000 euros and another penalty of 3.2 million euros, according to the sentence.

Accused of having avoided paying 5.7 million euros in taxes due on his image rights between 2011 and 2014, Ronaldo has already paid the taxman 6.7 million euros for what he owed plus interest, the sentence read.

That -- plus the court fine -- comes to more than 10 million euros.

In June, the player's lawyers and Spain's taxman came to an agreement that Ronaldo would pay a grand total of 18.8 million euros.

Ronaldo grinned and signed autographs outside the court (AFP Photo/

OSCAR DEL POZO)

That amount was not mentioned in the sentence but a source at the court, who refused to be named, said Ronaldo would have to pay 18.8 million euros in total, giving no further details.

Contacted by AFP, tax authorities, prosecutors and lawyers representing Ronaldo refused to provide any information.

It is unclear whether the remaining amount is a separate administrative fine.

'Very well'

"I am very well," the five-time Ballon d'Or winner told the crowd of reporters gathered outside of the court as he left the hearing. He signed a few autographs before leaving in a black van.

The court refused the player's request to appear by video or to enter the building by car to avoid the spotlight.

Ronaldo, who last year joined Italian champions Juventus, smiled broadly as he arrived at the court dressed in black trousers, a black turtleneck and dark sunglasses, holding hands with Rodriguez.

Ronaldo's tax troubles come from his time at Real Madrid, where he won two 

league titles and four Champions Leagues (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS)

Police officers escorted him.

He had played for Juventus on Monday night, missing a penalty as the Italian league leaders eased past bottom club Chievo 3-0.

Offshore companies

Madrid prosecutors opened an investigation into Ronaldo in June 2017 and he was questioned in July that same year.

"I have never hidden anything, nor have I had the intention of evading taxes," he told the court then, according to a statement from the sports agency which represents him, Gestifute.

Prosecutors accused Ronaldo of having used companies in low-tax foreign jurisdictions -- notably the British Virgin Islands and Ireland -- to avoid paying the tax due in Spain on payments for his image rights between 2011 and 2014.

Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate Xabi Alonso 

was also in court in Madrid on tax evasion charges

(AFP Photo/PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

His lawyers argued there had been a difference in interpretation of what was and was not taxable in Spain, and deny any deliberate attempt to evade tax.

But under the deal between Spain's tax authorities and his lawyers, Ronaldo pleaded guilty to four counts of tax fraud.

Ronaldo is one of several footballers to have fallen foul of Spain's tax authorities in recent years.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi, once Ronaldo's big La Liga rival, paid a two-million-euro fine in 2016 in his own tax wrangle and received a 21-month jail term.

The prison sentence was later reduced to a further fine of 252,000 euros, equivalent to 400 euros per day of the original term.

Alonso faces trial

Ronaldo's former Real Madrid team-mate Xabi Alonso appeared at the same Madrid court on Tuesday, for the first time, on a separate tax evasion charge.

Public prosecutors are seeking a five-year jail sentence and a fine of four million euros.

The trial was suspended while the court considers whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case.

Ronaldo and Rodriguez left court after the star was sentenced. (AFP Photo/

OSCAR DEL POZO)

"I never hid anything, I have to defend myself," Alonso, 37, told reporters as he left the court.

Ronaldo is also facing accusations in the United States where a former American model accused him of raping her in Las Vegas in 2009.

Police in the US city recently asked Italian authorities for a DNA sample from the footballer.

Ronaldo has always denied the accusations.

In a New Year's Eve interview with Portuguese sports daily Record, he said he had a "calm conscience" and was "confident that everything will very soon be clarified".

Related Article:

Cristiano Ronaldo denies tax fraud at court hearing

Spain insists on Gibraltar veto in Brexit deal

Yahoo – AFP, November 19, 2018

Spain has a long-standing claim on Gibraltar, which was ceded to the British
crown in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht (AFP Photo/JORGE GUERRERO)

Brussels (AFP) - Spain warned Monday it could yet derail the Brexit deal agreed between London and Brussels if it does not guarantee Madrid's veto over Gibraltar's future status.

Madrid has a long-standing claim on Gibraltar, which was ceded to the British crown in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is due to sign a treaty with European Union leaders to leave the bloc on Sunday, if Spain does not stand in the way.

But Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell warned on Monday after a meeting of EU ministers that the draft deal does not spell out how Gibraltar should be handled.

He said the text does not make it clear that future negotiations on ties between Brussels and post-Brexit Britain are separate from the Gibraltar issue.

"Future negotiations on Gibraltar are separate negotiations. And that is what needs to be made clear," Borrell said.

"Until it is clear ... we will not be able to give our agreement", he warned.

According to Article 184 of the draft divorce deal, "the EU and the United Kingdom shall make every effort, in good faith and with full respect for their respective legal systems, to adopt the measures necessary to negotiate rapidly the agreements governing their future relationship."

These agreements will be negotiated between Brexit day on March 29 and December 2020 -- extendable once -- and will enter into force at the end of the period.

But Spain wants to retain what it sees as its right to negotiate the future on Gibraltar with Britain on a bilateral basis, giving it an effective veto.

Although the legal service of the EU Council has tried to reassure Spain that the text does not preclude this, Madrid is seeking further clarification.

"Until we have the future declaration and we know what it says, whether we agree or not, we are not going to approve the withdrawal agreement either," Borrell said.

In London, May's spokesman said: "The draft withdrawal agreement agreed last week covers Gibraltar.

"The PM has been clear that we will not exclude Gibraltar, and the other overseas territories and the crown dependences from our negotiations on the future relationship. We will get a deal that works for the whole UK family."

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the position adopted by Madrid "does little to build mutual confidence and trust going forward."

Over the weekend, European diplomats said they did not expect Spain's concerns to derail the agreement.

#UPDATE "I have just announced to the King of Spain that we have an agreement on Gibraltar," Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez says in a televised address. "Spain... will vote in favour of Brexit." pic.twitter.com/hJ64BhsdiZ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 24, 2018

Spain court confirms jail term for ex-IMF chief Rato

Yahoo – AFP, Marianne BARRIAUX, October 3, 2018

The case involving former IMF head Rodrigo Rato outraged Spaniards who
endured a severe economic crisis (AFP Photo/DANI POZO)

Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato's jail sentence of four years and six months for misusing funds in a case that sparked outrage when it was uncovered at the height of the country's economic crisis.

In February 2017, Rato was found guilty by the Madrid-based National Court of paying for personal expenses with credit cards put at his disposal when he was the boss of Caja Madrid and Bankia, at a time when both banks were in difficulty.

The 69-year-old, who is also a former Spanish economy minister, had since then been free on bail pending an appeal.

The case shocked Spain, where it was uncovered at the height of the crisis that left many people struggling financially. Bankia later had to be nationalised.

Far-left party Podemos welcomed the court ruling, saying Spaniards had long demanded justice "for those who robbed public money, for those who ripped off thousands of families, for those who burdened us with debt for life".

"We applaud the fact that some of those responsible, like Rodrigo Rato, get at least part of what they deserve," it said in a tweet.

Misuse of 12 million euros

Rato was tried with 64 other former executives and board members at both banks accused of misusing a total of 12 million euros ($13.8 million) between 2003 and 2012 in personal expenses.

Those included petrol for their cars, supermarket shopping, pricey holidays, luxury bags or parties in nightclubs.

One of the executives, Miguel Blesa -- Rato's predecessor at Caja Madrid -- was sentenced to six years in jail.

In July 2017, Blesa was found dead with a gunshot wound to his chest at a private hunting estate in southern Spain.

An autopsy ruled it was suicide.

Second trial

The Supreme Court will now notify the National Court of its decision, which will then summon Rato and give him a deadline -- usually 10 to 15 days -- to allow him to pick a prison and go there voluntarily.

Authorities will issue an arrest warrant against him if he does not.

Rato was economy minister and deputy prime minister in the conservative government of Jose Maria Aznar from 1996 to 2004, before going on to head up the International Monetary Fund until 2007.

His subsequent career as a banker in Spain was short-lived -- from 2010 to 2012. But apart from the case of the undeclared credit cards, it also led to another banking scandal considered the country's biggest.

Thousands of small-scale investors lost their money after they were persuaded to convert their savings to shares ahead of the flotation of Bankia in 2011, with Rato at the reins.

Less than a year later, he resigned as it became known that Bankia was in dire straits.

The state injected billions of euros but faced with the scale of Bankia's losses and trouble in other banks, it asked the European Union for a bailout for the entire banking sector and eventually received 41 billion euros.

Rato is due to stand trial over the case, accused of falsifying information about Bankia's finances to encourage investors to buy into its stock market listing.

He is the third former IMF chief to get into trouble with the law.

His successor Dominique Strauss-Kahn was tried in 2015 on pimping charges in a lurid sex scandal, and was acquitted.

And Christine Lagarde, who took over from Strauss-Kahn and is the current IMF chief, was found guilty of negligence over a state payout to a tycoon when she was French finance minister, though she received no penalty.

Andorra, one of Europe's last abortion holdouts

Yahoo – AFP, Charlotte DURAND, 28 September 2018

In Andorra, having an abortion is punishable by up to six months in prison

Andorra is best known as a ski destination and tax haven -- but it's the tiny principality's status as one of Europe's last countries with an abortion ban that activists want to highlight on International Safe Abortion Day.

Even in cases of rape or when their lives are in danger, women in the country of 85,500 people nestled in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, have no right to an abortion.

Only Malta, the Vatican and San Marino, another micro-state surrounded by Italy, have the same rules, putting them in a group of outliers which lost a key member this year when Ireland voted to overturn its near-total abortion ban.

In Andorra, having an abortion is punishable by up to six months in prison.

"I had a baby that was at risk of dying in my stomach, but I didn't have the right to have it removed," said Sonia, who learned in the fifth month that her foetus had an incurable disease and would likely not survive the pregnancy.

Sonia -- her name has been changed -- had already announced the pregnancy to her friends and family, but ultimately decided to make the "difficult" decision to abort.

"I would have had to wait for him to die, keep him inside me for several days before realising, and then give birth to a dead baby," said Sonia, who is in her thirties.

Like some 120 other women who head across the border each year to Spain to terminate pregnancies, she travelled to Catalonia -- Catalan is the official language of Andorra -- to have the procedure.

"You come to our country to buy cigarettes -- we come to your country to buy our rights," reads a slogan on a pro-legalisation poster shared on social media.

"It's a form of torture," said Vanessa Mendoza Cortes from the Stop Violencies (Stop Violence) group which is campaigning for the legalisation of terminations.

On Saturday, the group is organising Andorra's first ever street protest in favour of decriminalising abortion.

"We should have the right to have an abortion in our hospitals, and not have to go to Barcelona with guilt and shame," said Mendoza Cortes, who wants to make it an issue in next year's legislative elections.

She decried the local system as "hypocritical", with the authorities turning a blind eye to women heading abroad for the procedure.

It's an option that's only open to women who can pay between 600 and 1000 euros ($700-$1,160), usually handed to the Spanish doctor in an envelope.

Maria, who had an abortion at 18, said she was "lucky" her family were able to scrape the cash together, but she is well aware that for many women "this is far from the case".

Today, aged 27, she recalls her shock at her Andorran gynaecologist forcing her to listen to her foetus' heartbeat, trying to dissuade her from ending the pregnancy.

The journey back from the abortion clinic in Spain took three hours by road, during which she was doubled over with abdominal pain.

She returned deeply distressed, but "there was no psychological or medical support afterwards", she added.

Doctors risk jail

Andorran doctors risk up to three years in prison and a five-year ban from practising if they are caught performing abortions.

Even giving patients information or the address of a clinic abroad is against the law, doctor Eric Sylvestre Dolsa told AFP.

"In cases where the mother's life is in danger, it would clearly pose a huge ethical problem for me as a doctor if you were to apply the law strictly," said the general practitioner.

He is one of few Andorran doctors openly backing legalisation, "no matter the motivation" for ending the pregnancy.

Many doctors are reluctant to debate abortion frankly due to fear of the instability that could arise from the issue blowing up in a principality with a unique political set-up, he said.

Although it is a parliamentary democracy, Andorra has two "co-princes" as head of state: French President Emmanuel Macron, and Joan-Enric Vives, a Catholic bishop staunchly opposed to abortion.

Vives has threatened to abdicate if abortion is legalised, noted Elisa Muxella, head of Andorra's Human Rights Institute.

"The government is hiding behind this excuse and saying that if we had abortion it would put our institutions in peril," said Muxella.

Sonia said she'd like to see Macron take a public stance on the issue.

"Do something for Andorran women," she implored him. "I don't want to see my daughters go through the same thing as me."