MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Health Minister Carmen Monton resigned from her position on Tuesday after reports of irregularities in how she obtained an academic degree, becoming the second minister to quit since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took office in June.

Monton denied reports that there were irregularities in a master's degree she received from a university in Madrid.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. </s> MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Health Minister Carmen Monton resigned from her position on Tuesday after reports of irregularities in how she obtained an academic degree, becoming the second minister to quit since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took office in June.

Monton denied reports that there were irregularities in a master’s degree she received from a university in Madrid. </s> MADRID — Spain’s health minister has resigned over irregularities found in her master’s degree, the second cabinet member to be replaced in the just over 100 days since Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez came to power.

Carmen Monton announced her resignation late on Tuesday, a day after news website elDiario.es published irregularities in her 2011 degree on gender studies. Her final work, it later emerged, had chunks of text copied from websites and other works.

Sanchez, who became prime minister in June promising to root out corruption, lost a culture minister over a tax fine. His centre-left government has been marred by erratic policy-making, with several U-turns on cabinet decisions.

The resignation also puts pressure on opposition leader Pablo Casado, whose degree from the same public policy institute as Monton’s is under investigation. </s> Spain's Health Minister Carmen Monton leaves after announcing her resignation at the ministry in Madrid, Spain, September 11, 2018. REUTERS/Juan Medina

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Health Minister Carmen Monton resigned on Tuesday after reports of irregularities in how she obtained an academic degree, becoming the second minister to quit since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took office in June.

Spanish news website eldiario.es reported on Monday that Monton had been awarded grades without attending classes or having contact with professors when she obtained her master’s degree at Madrid’s Rey Juan Carlos university.

Broadcaster La Sexta said on Tuesday it had tracked down her final project and found it contained plagiarized passages.

Monton denied those reports but said she was stepping down anyway, to avoid the situation affecting the government.

Sanchez took power after toppling his predecessor with a confidence vote over a long-running corruption scandal.

Anti-austerity group Podemos said Monton had no option but to resign if she could not explain the situation.

Monton’s departure follows that of Maxim Huerta, who resigned as culture minister in June just a week after taking office, over a tax fine related to his income 10 years ago.

Rey Juan Carlos university has been connected with other recent scandals involving accusations that politicians held improperly obtained qualifications.

The previous head of the Madrid regional government and the head of the opposition People’s Party received academic titles there which attracted accusations of malpractice, which both denied. </s> Madrid, Sep 12 (IANS) Spanish Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality Carmen Monton on Tuesday resigned after allegations of plagiarism, media reports said.

According to the media reports, Monton had copied 19 of the 52 pages of the investigative work she produced as part of the Masters Degree she obtained from the Department of Law at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) between 2010 and 2011.

These revelations followed a series of articles published in the online newspaper “Diario.es” revealing further irregularities in her Master including having her marks for part of the course changes from “not present” to “pass”, Xinhua reported.

Monton’s resignation came just hours after Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had publicly given her his backing, saying she was “doing a fine job and she is going to continue doing so”.

Monton is not the first politician to be forced to resign over allegations of irregularities of the qualifications they obtained from the University Rey Juan Carlos.

Cristina Cifuentes, of the right wing People’s Party (PP), was forced to resign as the President of the Madrid Autonomous Community in April this year after similar allegations.

Pablo Casado, who was recently elected leader of the PP, also faces accusations of irregularities in the Masters Degree which he also obtained from the same university. </s> Spain’s health minister, Carmen Montón, has resigned after becoming the latest senior politician to find her educational qualifications under scrutiny.

Montón stepped down on Tuesday night following a series of reports detailing irregularities in her master’s degree in interdisciplinary gender studies, which was awarded by King Juan Carlos University in Madrid seven years ago.

She insisted she had been “transparent and honest”, but an investigation by the online newspaper El Diario found discrepancies over her attendance and the marks awarded. Moreover, it emerged on Tuesday that Montón had plagiarised passages from Wikipedia and other websites in her final degree work.

The MP claimed she had done nothing wrong and, in an apparent reference to the opposition People’s party (PP) politicians who have faced questions over their degrees, said: “We’re not all the same.”

She paid tribute to Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist prime minister who appointed her after being sworn in three months ago, as she left office.

“Spanish men and women have a fantastic prime minister and I’ve informed him of my resignation so that this situation doesn’t get in the way,” Montón said.

Earlier that day, Sánchez had given the minister his backing. “She’s doing a great job and will carry on doing so,” he said.

The prime minister later tweeted his thanks: “In your 100 days at the helm of the health ministry, you have restored universal healthcare in our country and you’ve worked tirelessly to return and increase rights. Thanks, Carmen Montón, for your commitment to equality and social justice. Your brave decision does you credit.”

Montón is the second minister Sánchez has lost since he used a vote of no confidence to unseat his PP predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, amid public anger over the party’s corruption and cronyism.

In June, the culture minister, Màxim Huerta, resigned following media reports that he had avoided paying taxes while working as a TV journalist 10 years ago.

Pablo Casado, the new PP leader, has also faced questions over his academic record. Earlier this year, it emerged the postgraduate degree he claims to hold from Harvard had in fact been earned by attending a four-day course in Madrid. He has also admitted he was awarded a master’s degree in public regional law by King Juan Carlos University despite not being required to attend classes or take exams.

Spain’s supreme court is looking into Casado’s degree and will decide whether the investigations should continue. However, PP sources maintain that Casado’s case is very different from that of Montón, arguing their leader has not been accused of plagiarism or falsification.

In April, Cristina Cifuentes, the PP head of Madrid’s regional government, resigned after video footage emerged of her apparently being caught stealing two tubs of face cream seven years ago. Cifuentes had also been under pressure to quit over allegations of irregularities in her master’s degree from King Juan Carlos University. </s> Spain's minister for health, consumption and social welfare on Monday held a press conference to publicly refute allegations that she had received a favored treatment during her graduate studies at a university steeped in scandal due to her position as a member of Parliament at the time.

Carmen Montón said that the Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies she earned in 2010-11 at the King Juan Carlos University (URJC) – an institution mired in disrepute following two high-profile cases of politicians effortlessly receiving degrees in an extremely irregular fashion – had followed the proper procedures. </s> The head of Spain's Madrid region has resigned hours after a website broadcast a video allegedly showing her shoplifting cosmetics in a supermarket seven years ago, dealing another blow to the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Regional president Cristina Cifuentes has already been under pressure after a month-long controversy over a master's law degree granted to her by a public university, which faked professors' signatures after she apparently failed to attend most classes.

The 53-year-old politician had been a rising star in Mr Rajoy's Popular Party (PP), carving out a name for herself as an outspoken advocate for zero tolerance to corruption both within and outside of the ruling party.

But for the past month she had been under fire for failing to produce the final paper for her 2012 degree at the King Juan Carlos University.

The university has acknowledged that signatures were faked, and prosecutors have opened an investigation.

The political opposition in the regional assembly was scheduling an early May vote of no confidence.

Citing sources within the ruling party, Spanish private news agency Europa Press reported Mr Rajoy himself ordered Ms Cifuentes' resignation before Wednesday's key debate in the national parliament over the 2018 national budget.

The decision followed the publishing of a 2011 video on news website OK Diario. The clip shows Ms Cifuentes at the security room of a local supermarket going through the content of her bags in the company of a guard.

OK Diario said Ms Cifuentes had been found shoplifting two cosmetic products.

The website said she was not charged because police who eventually showed up at the scene let her go.

The politician acknowledged the incident on Wednesday but told reporters it was a misunderstanding.

She also said the video and the allegations on her master's degree, first reported by El Diario newspaper in March, were part of a "harassment" campaign led by political opponents that had become "too personal".

"I think they have crossed red lines that are evident," Ms Cifuentes said. </s> Cristina Cifuentes has resigned as president of the Madrid region. Photo: AFP

Cristina Cifuentes, the president of the Madrid regional government, announced her resignation on Wednesday morning hours after CCTV emerged that purported to show her stealing face cream.

The Madrid premier had been battling to stay in office after allegations surfaced earlier this month that she had faked a master’s diploma from Madrid's King Juan Carlos University.

The scandal had blighted the annual conference held by the ruling Popular Party (PP) with cross-party calls for her resignation over the matter.
• Derision as Madrid leader 'gives up' scandal-hit degree
• ANALYSIS: How fake degree scandal is provoking a new crisis in Spain's government

She refused to resign, claiming she had the support of the nation’s president Mariano Rajoy and instead ‘gave up’ the dodgy degree. But on Wednesday, online newspaper, OK Diario, published CCTV camera footage of her being detained and searched by store security guards after stealing two pots of Olay anti-aging cream. The footage taken in an Eroski supermarket in the capital dates from May 4, 2011. In a televised press conference, Cifuentes claimed that she had “inadvertently” pocketed the face creams but paid for them once her error was realised when she stopped by a security guard. Rajoy said that her resignation was inevitable. "She has done what she had to do. Her resignation had to happen in those circumstances," he said after her announcement.
The Spanish Health Minister Carmen Montón resigns after the irregularities in her master's degree and the plagiarism of part of her final project were made public on 10 September. She is the second minister to resign since Sánchez formed the government on 7 June.