National Police officers have detained 27 people in 18 different cities throughout Spain in connection with the falsification of academic qualifications.
Two academies, one in Alicante and another in Málaga, were offering various academic degrees allegedly issued by Peruvian universities, in exchange for payments of €18,000. Amongst those detained are the owners of the two academies.
Most of those arrested had illegally obtained college degrees that empowered them to practice as physicians, psychologists, doctors in physical therapy and rehabilitation, pharmaceuticals and forestry engineering. One of the detainees, working in a nursing home in Caceres, almost cost the the lives of two elderly patients through negligence in the prescription of drugs.
The first arrests were made in San Sebastián, where three people admitted obtaining fake certificates for €18,000 which allowed them to practice as physiotherapists.
The owners of the academies set up a sort of ‘virtual university’ in order to justify the degrees through various studies and courses. All documentation was submitted to the Ministry of Education and Science so, when the qualification was approved, it had an air of authenticity.
In several cases, the ‘graduates’ had opened aesthetic medical centres and were actively injecting patients with silicone, botox or vitamins as part of treatment courses.
Further arrests have not been ruled out, including some in Lima, Peru.