Staff Reporter
THE court case against former Madrid regional president Cristina Cifuentes over accusations that she forged her master’s degree has now entered its final stage.
Cifuentes is facing up to three years and three months in prison for official document forgery, after she allegedly instructed staff at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos to fake a document proving that she had presented her end-of-course dissertation (as reported by The Olive Press when the story broke in 2018).
The former regional president has so far failed to show the actual project and claims she lost it when she moved house.
Former government aide and civil servant Maria Teresa Feito is facing the same penalty as her ex-boss, while the public prosecution also maintains a request for 21 months imprisonment for Cecilia Rosado, director of the master’s degree in Public Law that Cifuentes is said not to have completed.
The prosecution took into account the attenuating circumstance of confession for Rosado, after she reportedly admitted having forged the end-of-course certificate to help save Cifuentes’ ailing political career.
Cristina Cifuentes was forced to resign in 2018 after a video was made public showing the then Madrid president stealing two pots of face cream from a hypermarket in 2011.
The CCTV footage was aired right at the height of the scandal over her alleged master’s forgery.
