Spanish Health Minister resigns over plagiarism allegations

Madrid  :  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.