The business of fake résumés among politicians (IV, Ciudadanos)

The political party whose president is Albert Rivera is also not exempt from the business of fake résumés. A clear example is Inés Arrimadas. On her "ePolitic" profile (a website specializing in politicians' résumés), two specific mentions she had disappeared without a trace. One was a position as a strategic and management consultant at the company Daleph between 2006 and 2012, and the other was a teacher training coursewith a professional certification from the same company. This contradicts what is stated on the party's website, as those mentions still appear there.

 

Inés Arrimadas | EFE

Meanwhile, the Valencia representative, Toni Cantó, was reported in April of this year for having listed on his résumé that he was a pedagogue when he was a member of the UPyD party, a detail he deleted when he ran in the next legislature with Ciudadanos. Cantó defended himself by claiming that he had taught theater classes for many years, so ""there's no need to have a degree"", he stated.

In 2015 the Ciudadanos representativefor Seville in Congress, Virginia Millán, indicated on her résumé that she had 5 years of experience as a lawyer. This turned out to be false, since she had supposedly joined the bar in 2011, which made it impossible for her to have completed five years as a lawyer. On the other hand, in her 2014 asset declaration submitted to Congress, she declared income of ""0 euros"", while in 2015 she declared 1,700 euros for having worked three months. Millán justified herself by saying that she had worked as a ""unpaid intern"" in several law firms in 2015.

The "Enredadera case"

One of the Ciudadanos members expelled over the "Enredadera case", the scheme that illegally awarded contracts for traffic control in 44 city councils across Spain, is Sadat Maraña, "El Fontanero" of Albert Rivera's organization in León. Maraña had to step down in November 2015 from being the lead candidate for León due to falsifying his résumé. His biography listed a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of León, which did not exist. Maraña himself stated that he was stepping down as the lead candidate ""due to the controversy caused by the University of León's error when certifying the credits for my degree"". Despite this incident, Maraña, supported by Albert Rivera's leadership, was able to keep working in politics within Ciudadanos. However, in July 2018 he was dismissed by the party for having been involved in the "Enredadera case".

 

Sadat Maraña | Ciudadanos León

Also in 2018, three months earlier, it became public that the number 2 of Ciudadanos in Cantabria and right-hand man of Félix Álvarez "Felisuco", Rubén Gómez, had falsified his résumé. On the regional legislature's website and on the party's regional website it stated ""pending the final project to complete the undergraduate studies in physics at UC (University of Cantabria)"". This contradicted what was stated on his "LinkedIn" profile, as on this job site it indicated that Rubén Gómez had a ""Bachelor's degree in Physics"".

There was also the case of María Dolores Jiménez. It was discovered that in 2015 the Ciudadanos councilor in the Murcia municipality of Alcantarilla claimed to have a Bachelor's degree in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), a Higher Degree in Criminology and Forensic Sciences from the same university, and a university master's degree inGovernment of Institutions and International Organizations from the Villanueva University Center (affiliated with UCM). Supposedly fictitious degrees. Through a complaint filed by a party member, María Dolores Jiménez had to modify her résumé. Now, the Higher Degree in Criminology no longer appears and the Law degree has changed from being at Complutense to being studied at the affiliated center of Villanueva.

Madrid region the most affected

A serious case was allegedly committed by the number 2 of the orange party for Madrid, César Zafra. In November 2015 the representative was accused of lying on his résumé, as it stated that he had worked as a lawyerwithout being authorized to do so. In a press conference held that same year by a Spokespersons' Board, Zafra admitted to having worked without a contract for the law firm Martínez-Aybar between 2010 and 2013. In the representative's words, ""they couldn't give me a contract, I understood the situation was complicated and I hoped that would change""."

On the other hand, the number 4 of Ciudadanos on the Madrid list, Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez, was reported in 2015 for having used the title of doctor engineer for more than a decade, as well as the degree of Senior Engineer. As a result of the regional elections, Gutiérrez was forced to downplay his résumé. His academic data now reflect that he is an Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. The complaint filed against Gutiérrez emphasized that Ciudadanos's Code of Ethics specifies that falsifying a résumé is grounds for dismissal, something that ultimately never happened.

Another significant case is that of the Ciudadanos representative for Madrid, Marta Marbán, who was dismissed from the company Laboratorios Biomedical Diagnostics SL for using her position at the company to send electoral material related to the May 2011 municipal elections. The company itself reaffirmed the dismissal, as Marbán had been storing, using, and sending electoral documentation through the company's computer equipment.

 

Marta Marbán during an interview | Twitter Ciudadanos

These are some of the most significant cases that stain the orange party in the business of fake résumés.