The university rector demolishes Cristina Cifuente’s defense

The controversy surrounding the presumed masters degree of Cristina Cifuentes has her backed into a corner. Yesterday, the Rector of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Javier Ramos, torpedoed the defence of the President of the Community of Madrid by admitting that the university cannot “confirm” in any way that Cifuentes defended her master’s thesis as required, as there is no record in the registry to certify to her degree.

The Rector of the university yesterday said the institution conforms to the protocols in place throughout the Spanish tertiary system in the procedure followed in granting degrees at all levels and the records kept to verify to their validity but as none is evident in this case. As a result, he announced that the university would pass all relevant documents to the office of the State Prosecutor to open a criminal investigation into Cifuente’s claims of holding the degree.

Despite the statement from the rector yesterday, Cifuentes, speaking from Seville at the opening of the PP’s national conference, stood by her claims saying she would not resign and asserted that she had not lied about the masters and that the lack of documentation was not her fault and was an internal matter for the university which she hoped would eventually be cleared up.