Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato has resigned after a judge said she had “personally profited” from crimes allegedly committed by her ex-husband, linked to a major corruption scandal.
She is suspected of benefiting from paid-for trips, plane tickets, designer goods and family events worth 55,000 euros.
She has not been named an official suspect in the case but legal sources say she will have to sit in the dock as civilly liable.
High Court judge Pablo Ruz has decided there is enough evidence to try 43 people in the Gürtel case, a massive kickbacks-for-contracts scandal, implicating senior figures from Spain’s ruling People’s Party.
The party’s former treasurer Luis Bárcenas was jailed for managing a secret slush fund used to pay bonuses to senior members.