Spain health minister steps down

Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato has relinquished her post following a financial scandal.

Mato announced her resignation in a statement on Wednesday after an investigating judge accused her of gaining financial benefits from a bribe scheme that involved her former husband.

Mato said that she would quit his position so as not to taint the reputation of Spain’s ruling People’s Party and the administration of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

However, she denied any complicity in the corruption case and said that she just might be fined by the court “because of my family situation at the time the alleged events occurred.”

Earlier in the day, Spanish judge Pablo Ruz said that Mato’s ex-husband received 50,000 euros ($62,000) from a corruption network while she served as the country’s health minister.

The judge also stated that 43 people were involved in the corruption scandal.

The rampant corruption cases in Rajoy’s government have sparked anger among people in Spain who suffer from high unemployment rate, harsh cutbacks in social welfare and an ailing economy.

According to a government poll taken in 2013, Spaniards consider corruption as the second-biggest problem in the country after unemployment.

FNR/AS/MHB

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/11/27/387668/spain-health-minister-steps-down/

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