The national Minister for Health, Social Services and Equility, Ana Mato, has quit tonight after a senior judge accused her of “lining her pockets” together with her husband, who has been charged in the gürtel corruption case.
Ana Mato said that she was resigning from government in order to not bring into disrepute her government and her party. Her resignation came just four hours after she told journalists that she had “no intention” of resigning, and it’s being assumed that PM Rajoy told her to jump or be pushed. She quit after holding a two hour personal and private meeting with him.
Dª Mato’s ex-husband, Jesús Sepúlveda (they are in the process of divorcing) is being charged with being up to his neck in the PP corruption case known as gürtel, in which Francisco Correa gave massive “presents” to PP leaders across the country -mainly in Valencia- in exchange for large contracts.
Judge Ruz of the National Audience said today that he was planning to charge Minister Ana Mato as he considered her to be an active and knowing partner to her husbands alleged crimes.
Mato had a very rough time of it recently due to her incompetence in dealing with the Ebola cases in Spain. The Spanish health system was judged to have been very lax in its protocols and trainings, which allowed a nurse dealing with an Ebola case to catch the dangerous disease, but she managed to weather the storm.
She hasn’t been charged in the case yet, but it’s expected to be only a matter of time.