The Spanish Health Minister has resigned 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 yesterday that Carmen 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 today said it had tracked down her final project and found it contained plagiarised passages.
Ms Monton denied those reports but said she was stepping down anyway, to avoid the situation affecting the government.
Mr Sanchez took power after toppling his predecessor with a confidence vote over a long-running corruption scandal.
Anti-austerity group Podemos said Ms Monton had no option but to resign if she could not explain the situation.
Her 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 ten years ago.
Rey Juan Carlos university has been connected with other recent scandals involving accusations that politicians held improperly obtained qualifications.
The uproar has also affected opposition leader Pablo Casado, after he admitted that he had obtained a masters degree at the same university without even having attended a class or passed an exam.
A bench of the Supreme Court is to decide shortly whether an investigation should continue into whether Mr Casado was party to corrupt acts.
Mr Casado has repeatedly refused to resign and his Party Popular has stood resolutely by him.
University Rey Juan Carlos said in a statement that there had been manipulation of her results and that it was examining Monton's case "so as to establish responsibilities".
