Ireland votes to lift blasphemy ban: exit polls

Yahoo – AFP, October 27, 2018

Exit polls indicate that Irish voters support a repeal of a blasphemy law from
the constitution (AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

Dublin (AFP) - Irish voters overwhelmingly backed the lifting of a constitutional ban on blasphemy, exit polls said Saturday, the latest reform relaxing the devout nation's historic ties to the Catholic Church.

An RTE television poll showed 71 percent of voters in Friday's referendum wanting to remove the 1937 constitutional provision and 26 percent choosing to keep it.

The Irish Times put the figures at 69 percent and 31 percent.

The referendum coincided with a presidential election in which incumbent Michael D Higgins was on course to be reinstated for another seven years in the largely ceremonial post, according to the polls.

Official results in both ballots are expected late Saturday or early Sunday.

In practice, the blasphemy ban is largely obsolete. There have been no successful prosecutions under the legislation since the birth of the Irish republic.

But some of its critics said the ban offered Ireland's tacit support to oppressive regimes around the world that restrict freedom of expression.

"The constitutional provision and Irish law on blasphemy gives comfort to countries where they have extremely draconian laws which are used to harass, to intimidate, to imprison, to subject people to violence,” Amnesty Ireland director Colm O'Gorman told AFP ahead of the vote.

The law was also heavily criticised in 2015 when police were forced to investigate British TV personality Stephen Fry for branding God "stupid" during an interview.

Politicians have long made it known they have intended to remove the provision.

The blasphemy referendum follows a landslide May referendum to repeal the country’s strict abortion laws.

Many saw that poll as an indication of the Catholic church's declining hold on Irish culture.

That vote was preceded by a vibrant campaign and national discussion, and enjoyed a turnout of 65 percent.

In the presidential ballot, RTE said the incumbent will receive 58 percent of the first-preference votes. The Irish Times put Higgins's support at 56 percent.

"If the exit polls are correct, and obviously they are very close together, I think that shows the people have voted for decency, for inclusiveness, for competency and experience that Michael D has brought to the role," presidential spokesman Bernard Harbour told RTE.

Yes campaigners rejoice ahead of the final result of a landmark referendum in which
Ireland voted by 66 percent to ditch its strict abortion laws (AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

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Mass infant grave at Irish Catholic home to be excavated

Mass infant grave at Irish Catholic home to be excavated

Yahoo – AFP, October 23, 2018

During Pope Francis's August visit to Ireland the so-called "Tuam babies" became
an emblematic issue among protestors (AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

Dublin (AFP) - Ireland's government on Tuesday approved the full excavation of a mass grave of infant and children's remains on the site of a former Catholic home for unmarried mothers.

Significant quantities of baby remains were discovered in an apparent makeshift crypt in the town of Tuam in western Ireland during test excavations between 2016 and 2017.

"I am committed to ensuring that all the children interred at this site can have a dignified and respectful burial," children's minister Katherine Zappone said in a statement.

"It is only by taking the right actions now can we truly demonstrate our compassion and commitment to work towards justice, truth and healing for what happened in our past and, most especially, for those who were previously abandoned."

During Pope Francis's August visit to Ireland the so-called "Tuam babies" became an emblematic issue among protestors, representing historic abuses by the church in Ireland.

Many demonstrators carried infant shoes at events during the Pope's weekend-long visit in a bid to evoke the grave and a silent vigil was held in the town.

In addition to uncovering and re-interring child remains, the investigation will attempt to identify those buried at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home and make provisions for their memorialisation and conservation of the site.

Initial investigations will focus on remains found in at least 17 of the 20 chambers examined so far.

Eight separate areas warranting further investigation have also been identified, the government said in a statement.

"It has taken us more time than first anticipated to examine the unprecedented technical and legal issues which arise in seeking to appropriately respond to the tragic discovery," Zappone added in her statement.

The government-sanctioned commission was set up following research by a local historian, Catherine Corless, who found that 796 babies and children died at the home between 1925 and 1961 but there were no burial records for them.

She has always maintained they had been buried at the site.

Contested reports that infant remains were discovered in sewage chambers have also heightened outrage around the discovery.

Dutch king calls for special attention for Brits living in NL

DutchNews, October 23, 2018

Photo: Wesley de Wit | Hollandse Hoogte

British nationals in the Netherlands and Dutch nationals who live in the UK, deserve special attention now the UK is leaving the EU, king Willem-Alexander said in a speech at the British parliament on Tuesday afternoon. 

Brexit, the king said, ‘does not mean farewell. Our close, historic relationship will continue, albeit on a different footing.’ 

He referred to the trade, creative and investment ties between the two countries before going on to state: ‘One group deserves special attention: the 50,000 British nationals who live in the Netherlands, and the 150,000 Dutch nationals who live in the UK.’ 

‘Many of them have lived and worked there for many years. They feel at home in their local community and their contribution to society is valued, whether as employees, colleagues, neighbours or volunteers. 

‘Yet all these individuals now live under the shadow of uncertainty about their future status. I understand how difficult this is for them and I trust that this uncertainty will be resolved,’ Willem-Alexander said. 

Earlier on Tuesday the king and queen Maxima met members of the Dutch community in London, partly to discuss their concerns about Brexit. No agreement has yet been made about the rights of British nationals in the Netherlands and the Dutch in Britain after March 29 and many people are extremely worried about their future. 

The two-day visit is the first official state visit by a Dutch monarch to Britain since 1982. 

Read the full speech 

Last Friday Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok, who has accompanied the royals to London, said the Netherlands will ensure a ‘decent solution‘ for British citizens in the Netherlands if there is a no-deal Brexit. 

‘We will not abandon these people,’ Blok said. ‘Even in a no-deal scenario we will make sure there is a decent solution so that British nationals can say in our country after March 30, 2019.’ 

A solution is already being worked on, Blok is quoted as saying by the AD.

Two queens, a king and a crown prince. Photo: HH/Pool

Related Article:

Dutch king and queen begin state visit to Brexit-bound Britain

'Half million' rally in London for new Brexit vote

Yahoo – AFP, Dmitry ZAKS, 20 October 2018

They don't want a future outside the EU

EU flag waving Britons rejecting a future outside Europe packed the heart of London on Saturday for an anti-Brexit protest organisers said drew more than half a million people.

The police gave no figures for how many showed up for the massive march and rally outside parliament aimed at pressing the government into holding a second Brexit vote.

But the 570,000 turnout figure reported by campaigners would make the demonstration the largest since 750,000 showed up against the war in Iraq in 2003 according to police figures.

"This feels like a party," said Liverpool university student Lucy Dogget as she squeezed past a volunteer dishing out bowls of beans on a leafy square facing Westminster Palace.

"But it could be our last one before the lights go out."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan called Saturday "an historic moment in our democracy" that united "every corner of our country and every section of our society".

Brexit deeply divides Britain

'Misled'

The marchers came in buses and trains from across Britain and even other parts of the EU.

They chanted and whistled while marching in support for causes ranging from women's rights to Britain's beloved but underfunded NHS healthcare system.

Some wore blue French berets decorated with the golden stars of the EU flag. Others stuck up signs lampooning Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating efforts.

Many of the posters featured variations on the famous "I have a cunning plan" line from the popular 1980s British comedy "Black Adder".

Their point was that May seemed to have none at all just five months before Britain is to split from the EU with or without an agreement of how future trade between the two will function.

And all seemed united in a simple message: the Brexit its supporters promised ahead of the June 2016 referendum that set the divorce in motion looks nothing like the one being negotiated today.

"I think people were misled in various ways," small business owner Peter Hancock said while tightening an EU flag around the neck of his huge bearded collie.

Some EU leaders are wondering whether a second referendum could make the 

Brexit mess go away

"We want to stay European," added his wheelchair-bound wife Julie.

"We can't really see any benefits of leaving, can we, at all."

An online petition demanding a binding vote on any deal agreed before the March deadline had been signed almost 950,000 times by the time the march kicked off under sunny skies.

Divided nation

May has made it abundantly clear that she has no intention of allowing a Brexit do-over.

"They now want a second referendum to go back to the British people and say 'Oh, we're terribly sorry -- we think you've got it wrong,'" she told parliament on Wednesday.

"There'll be no second referendum. The people voted and this government will deliver on it."

Yet many are not entirely clear on what it actually is that May's government is delivering.

Pets were recruited to the anti-Brexit cause

The alternatives facing Britain at the moment seems to range from a clean break without any trade deal to one in which little changes except for London losing its voice in the EU.

Neither choice holds much appeal to most people. Recriminations over how Britain got here have left May looking increasingly isolated and weak.

And European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron are openly wondering if a second British vote might yet make the mess go away.

Polls show support for a second referendum evenly split -- the same as with the Brexit vote itself.

In the 2016 poll 52 percent of voters backed leaving on turnout of 72 percent.

But some think MPs may rally around another vote at the last moment to avert complete chaos once they see what Britain might be forced to sign up to -- and that they must approve.

Fiona Godfrey said she took the overnight train in from her new home in Luxemburg because she feared Brexit would do permanent damage to her family life.

The 53-year-old contract worker said new British residence rules would make it all but impossible for her new German husband to ever settle in London.

"We would have to meet minimum income rules and I am self-employed," said Godfrey.

"I'm losing my voting rights, my right to a livelihood, my freedom of movement -- in Luxembourg, which you can cross in 15 minutes."

EU top court orders Poland to suspend Supreme Court retirements

France24 – AFP, 19 October 2018

The controversial judicial reforms sparked mass protests across Warsaw in July 2018

LUXEMBOURG (AFP) - The European Union's top court on Friday ordered Poland to "immediately suspend" its decision to lower the retirement age of its Supreme Court judges, which it said threatens judicial independence.

The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, last month took Poland's rightwing government to the European Court of Justice for lowering the age at which Supreme Court judges must retire from 70 to 65.

"Poland must immediately suspend the application of the provisions of national legislation relating to the lowering of the retirement age for Supreme Court judges," the European Court of Justice said.

The Commission had asked the court in Luxembourg to take a decision as "soon as possible", warning that Warsaw was accelerating retirements.

Speaking in Brussels, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his government had during "the last few hours received the court of justice decision".

"We will certainly respond to it," he added.

"We will see what these (EU) institutions are proposing. When we take them into consideration, several possibilities will be analysed."

The court said the order to suspend retirements "is to apply with retroactive effect" after noting that several judges had already been forced to retire.

The court, which said it would issue a final ruling at a later date, could impose fines if it finds Poland in breach of EU law.

The Commission has expressed concern the new retirement age will hasten the departure of judges appointed under previous governments, allowing the appointment of figures seen as loyal by Warsaw's current leadership.

The new retirement age requires more than a third of current Supreme Court judges to step down, including chief justice Malgorzata Gersdorf.

Calling the law a "purge", Gersdorf has refused to step down, citing a constitutional guarantee that she serve a six-year term until 2020.

The law more broadly violates Poland's obligations under the EU treaty, which it signed onto when it joined the bloc in 2004, the commission said.

Norway apologises to mistreated war-time 'German girls'

Yahoo – AFP, October 17, 2018

Many women involved with German soldiers in occupied Norway were expelled
or punished by the state after liberation in 1945 (AFP Photo/STR)

Oslo (AFP) - Norway on Wednesday officially apologised for the "shameful treatment" of Norwegian women targeted for reprisals for their intimate relations with German soldiers during the country's war-time occupation.

Between 30,000 to 50,000 Norwegians, commonly labelled the "German girls", were involved with occupying troops during World War II, according to estimates from Norway's Centre for Holocaust and Minorities Studies.

As well as public humiliation, many of the woman were subject to reprisals by officials after the 1945 liberation from Nazi occupation, including illegal arrests and detentions, job dismissals and even being expelled and stripped of their nationality.

"Young Norwegian girls and woman who had relations with German soldiers or were suspected of having them, were victims of shameful treatment," Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.

"Today, in the name of the government, I want to offer my apologies," the premier said at an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the UN's universal declaration of human rights.

"For many, this was just a teenage love, for some, the love of their lives with an enemy soldier or an innocent flirt that left its mark for the rest of their lives."

During the war, more than 300,000 German soldiers occupied Norway, a neutral country the Nazis invaded on April 9, 1940. Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi SS chief, considered Norwegians "goddesses" and encouraged his troops to have relations with local women.

The first "Lebensborn" reproduction centre outside Germany was set up in Norway in 1941 as part of the Nazi Aryan race ideology.

In 2000, Olso formally apologised to the estimated 10,000 to 12,000 children born to Norwegian mothers and German soldiers, who also suffered reprisals.

Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg has apologised to women who suffered reprisals 

after having relations with German soldiers during the country's war-time occupation 

(AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

People in the street

More than 70 years after the end of WWII, very few of the women remain alive and the official apology is unlikely to open the way for financial reparations for their families.

"The people directly affected are no longer with us... but this also touches their families and the children," said Reidar Gabler, son of a Norwegian woman who was expelled in 1945 along with her German husband.

"Even if it comes late, the apology is important for history," he told Norway's Aftenposten newspaper

Historian Kare Olsen said he was unaware of any similar apology in other European countries where women suffered after their involvement with soldiers during German occupation.

Thousands of French women were publicly shorn after the liberation; some were detained or executed in what were mostly extrajudicial reprisals.

"In France, for example, these women were mistreated after the liberation, but it was more by people in the street than by the authorities," Olsen said.

In Denmark, historians estimate the number of woman involved with members of the German occupying forces was around 50,000 but there were no accusations or forced expulsions.

"There is less reason for an official apology than in Norway," said Anette Waring, a professor at the Danish University of Roskilde.

None of the estimated 28 Norwegian men married to German women during the war were expelled or had their nationality taken away from them, according to historian Guri Hjeltnes, the director of the Holocaust and Minorities Studies centre.

"We cannot say women who had personal relations with German soldiers were helping the German war effort," Hjeltnes said. "Their only crime was breaking the unwritten rules."

Referee, executive charged in Belgium football scandal

Yahoo – AFP, Oct 11, 2018

Club Brugge head coach Ivan Leko, who was accompanied by his lawyer, was
released from the Palace of Justice in Tongeren after questioning (AFP Photo/
NICOLAS MAETERLINCK)

Brussels (AFP) - A top football referee and a Belgian club executive were among the first suspects charged on Thursday in a massive fraud and match-fixing scandal that has engulfed Belgium's elite league, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said more than 20 suspects were being investigated a day after hundreds of police carried out 44 house searches across Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.

The judge in charge of the case has also issued European arrest warrants to seek the extradition of suspects detained abroad, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told reporters in Brussels.

The enquiry is focused on some of Belgium's best known football agents, including Mogi Bayat, the former manager of Sporting Charleroi, who was arrested in his home on suspected links to crooked transfer deals.

Another agent Dejan Veljkovic is suspected of both fraud and match fixing, according to Belgian media reports.

Suspicions of match-fixing emerged during the fraud investigation, with a focus on matches played in the 2017-18 season, prosecutors said.

Veljkovic is alleged to have engineered a match-fixing scheme with a Belgian referee in a failed effort to save club KV Mechelen from relegation.

The Mechelen financial director, Thierry Steemans, has been detained and charged in the match-fixing case, Flemish daily De Standaard reported.

The searches were carried out at the headquarters of nine football clubs, including Mechelen, Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk and Standard Liege.

Club Brugge coach Ivan Leko, whose team is playing in the Champions League this season, was released after questioning on Thursday.

The house searches outside Belgium were mainly connected to the suspect transfer schemes, said prosecutors.

The investigation started in late 2017 as a result of a report drawn up by the Sports Fraud Cell.

UPDATE: Belgian prosecutors have charged 19 suspects and detained nine in a massive fraud and match-fixing scandal that has mired Belgium's top football league in scandal https://t.co/cpONvjJWoP #MogiBayat

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2018

Pope says Church can no longer tolerate silence on abuse

Yahoo – AFP, October 6, 2018

'We will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead', Francis said in 2015 (AFP
Photo/Andreas SOLARO)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis said Saturday that silence on sexual abuse can "no longer be tolerated" as he ordered an investigation into Vatican archives concerning former archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick, who resigned in July.

"Both abuse and its cover-up can no longer be tolerated," said Francis in a Vatican statement in which he declared the Church had to tackle "the grave scourge of abuse within and beyond" the institution.

The case of McCarrick triggered a storm in August after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican envoy to Washington, dropped a bombshell letter accusing the pope of ignoring allegations about the prominent US cardinal, one of the most senior Catholic leaders to face abuse allegations.

Following Vigano's letter, US groups representing survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests urged the Vatican to publish a list of clerics accused of sexual assault.

Saturday's Vatican statement said Francis was "aware of and concerned by the confusion that these accusations are causing in the conscience of the faithful."

The statement added: "Both abuse and its cover-up can no longer be tolerated" and said the Church had a duty "to prevent such crimes from being committed in the future to the harm of the most innocent and most vulnerable in society".

The statement also underlined that Francis had in an August letter to Catholics stated that "the only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God.

"This awareness of being part of a people and a shared history will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within," said the statement.

Regarding McCarrick, the Vatican said Francis "has decided that information gathered during the preliminary investigation be combined with a further thorough study of the entire documentation present in the Archives of the Dicasteries and Offices of the Holy See ... to ascertain all the relevant facts, to place them in their historical context and to evaluate them objectively."

The Vatican concluded the Holy See recognised "it may emerge that choices were taken that would not be consonant with a contemporary approach to such issues" but that, as Francis said in 2015, "we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead."

Pope Francis meets with leaders from the US church at the Vatican on Thursday

to discuss claims of sexual abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/Handout)

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Part of the painting, said to one of the highlights of the Vatican collection

Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness. …”

Women should play a greater role in the training of priests to fight the child abuse 'crisis' that has engulfed the #CatholicChurch, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said https://t.co/UmGvrcnIZI #MarcOuellet

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 16, 2018

A Belgian bishop has called for married men to be allowed into the priesthood, a hot-button topic within the Roman Catholic church as it grapples with falling priest numbers and sexual abuse scandals https://t.co/nKSHNOGfBj

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 10, 2018

Dutch MEPs want to make EU expenses claims open

DutchNews, October 4, 2018

Two Dutch MEPs are proposing a motion in the European Parliament to make expenses claims open. 

Every month, MEPs may claim an extra €4,416 in expenses on top of their salary and attempts by journalists at the European Court of Justice to make these claims open failed last month. 

Now, reports broadcaster NOS, D66 politician Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy and SP representative Dennis de Jong have proposed a new vote on the issue and believe they will win a majority. 

While previous attempts to post MEP’s major expenses claims failed due to privacy rules and suggestions that the costs of posting all the receipts online would be prohibitive, Gerbrandy was hopeful. 

‘We have asked the bureau [which deals with day-to-day European administration] to come up with a ruling, because it really can’t be that difficult,’ he reportedly told the NOS. ‘It would be pretty brazen to ignore the wish of a parliamentary majority. This is public spending and so it should be publicly accounted for.’ 

He added that claims by the bureau that putting all receipts online would require seven people working full time were ‘exaggerated’ and that the motion would be about accounting for big claims rather than every cup of coffee. 

The NOS reports that a previous motion on this issue had been passed but has not been enacted. 

De Jong told DutchNews.nl, via email: ‘In the Parliament there is a majority in favour of more transparency. At the same time, the bureau does not do what it is asked to do.’ 

Short of dismissing the bureau’s members, including the president, he said the only other option is to ask all candidates for the European elections next May to pledge that they will open up their expenses claims to public scrutiny rather than just accepting the current cash lump sum. ‘That’s what we now ask as Dutch MEPs,’ he added. 

Stefan de Koning, spokesman for the D66 at the European Parliament (SP), added that the exact form of the motion is still taking shape. ‘The ECJ ruled against the request for transparancy from 29 journalists, but that should not be a signal for the EP to lean back and do nothing,’ he said in a statement to DutchNews.nl. ‘Rather, we should use the momentum for further steps towards more transparency. That is in essence what we want to do now; make sure we keep moving forward, rather than heave a collective sigh of relief.’

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.