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Madrid - Two days before he quit in May 2012 as chairperson of Bankia - the lender then on the verge of Spain's costliest ever bailout - Rodrigo Rato took out €1 000 ($1 300) in cash on a company credit card.
It was his sixteenth withdrawal for that amount in three months, in addition to around €1 500 spent on the card in garden centres, restaurants and a tailor, according to documents filed with the Spanish High Court as part of an investigation into whether cards held by Rato and dozens of other former board members and executives were misused for personal expenses.
The splurges have sparked fury among Spaniards, who suffered a deep recession after the country's weakest banks were bailed out by European partners to the tune of more than €40bn, and many of whom lost money in the collapse of Bankia.
But the case has also raised hopes the financial crisis is finally catching up with bankers and that, with support for anti-establishment parties on the rise, the authorities will at last take a tougher line on corruption.
Judges have ordered Rato, a former International Monetary Fund chief, and Miguel Blesa - who chaired savings bank Caja Madrid before it was merged with others to form Bankia in 2010 - to deposit millions of euros with the High Court by Wednesday to cover possible civil penalties, or face having assets seized.
"There is a greater sensitivity now among judges, even among politicians," said Fernando Jimenez, a political scientist and corruption expert at the University of Murcia, highlighting that Spain's opposition Socialist party had kicked out some members caught up in the credit cards probe.
"That kind of thing would have been unthinkable even five years ago," he added.
Rato, a stalwart of the ruling centre-right People's Party (PP) and former finance minister, late on Monday asked for a temporary suspension of his PP membership while the case rumbles on, as pressure grew for him to be expelled.
Both he and Blesa deny any wrongdoing.
Politicians and even royals in Spain have been engulfed in graft scandals in recent years. Public perception of fraud is among the highest in Europe, and after the country's sky-high unemployment rate, corruption has been Spaniards' second-biggest concern since early 2013, official polls show.
Yet few people have so far been held to account by long-winded court processes. Most probes into failed savings banks including Bankia are dragging on with no trial in sight.
Only at small Caixa Penedes were four ex-managers convicted this year in relation to pension payouts - though in other countries devastated by banking crises, such as Ireland, convictions have been equally scarce as courts struggle to pin down responsibility for bad management.
But the credit card splurges at Caja Madrid and Bankia, on allegedly undeclared tabs unearthed by current managers, have already forced union leaders, business representatives and King Felipe VI's private adviser Rafael Spottorno to step down, as well as tarnishing parties of all leanings.
The last straw
"This marks a beginning and an after in political life (in Spain)," said Joaquin Yvancos, a lawyer representing almost 300 small investors who lost money in Bankia's €22.5bn bailout, and are interested parties in the court probe.
"In reality it's not even the worst that has happened at Caja Madrid and Bankia ... but as far as public opinion was concerned, it was the last straw."
Other probes are now under way, with Spain's tax office investigating the country's large companies over possible misuse of credit cards too, though few expect a quick resolution of any ongoing investigations.
The Frob, which handles government stakes in banks, last week sent prosecutors details of irregular real estate and debt operations at Catalunya Banc and NCG Banco, two rescued lenders it has already sold off at a loss for taxpayers.
The deals, from several years ago, could have caused combined losses of about €1.5bn, the Frob said.
Rato has to deposit €3m with the court on Wednesday and Blesa, a friend of PP former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, has to pay €16m. Their lawyers did not return requests for comment.
Rato and Blesa were among those who this week testified in Spain's High Court they thought the credit cards were part of their salaries, said a source present at the hearings, which were closed to the public.
Rato, who spent around €99 000 on his - less than some colleagues - said he had thought the cards were authorised and subject to tax, according to the source.
About €15.5m was racked up on the Bankia and Caja Madrid credit cards by 86 former staff between 2003 and 2012, the court documents seen by Reuters show.
The purchases, a mix of the mundane and the extravagant - from cinema tickets, groceries and flowers to jewels, holidays and clothes - have fuelled public demands for reform.
"They're always charging us commissions... and at their end, it's just take, take, take," said Gregoria Alonso, a fruit stall manager in Madrid and a Bankia customers.
