Rodrigo Rato was found guilty of several crimes including corruption and money laundering.
A Madrid court has sentenced former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Rodrigo Rato to more than four years in prison for tax fraud, money laundering and corruption.
The jury found Rato guilty of “three charges against the Treasury, one of money laundering and the other of public corruption”, the court said on Friday.
Rato, who had already served two years in prison for money laundering during his tenure as chairman of Spain's Bankia, has denied any wrongdoing for nine years.
After a year-long trial, the court found Rato guilty of three counts of corruption against the Spanish tax authorities, as well as corruption involving non-governmental organizations and money laundering.
He was sentenced to four years, nine months and one day in prison.
Since the decision can be challenged on appeal to the Supreme Court, Rato will not remain in prison until the decision is handed down, a court spokesman said.
Rato, 75, headed the IMF from 2004 to 2007 and Bankia between 2010 and 2012. He also spent eight years serving as finance minister and deputy minister in the conservative People's Party (PP) government of Jose Maria Aznar between 1996 and 2004. .
The court also ordered Rato to pay a fine of more than 2 million euros ($2.08m), as well as 568,413 euros ($591,330) to the tax authorities.
Rato was acquitted of another Bankia fraud case in 2012.