It’s bad enough that in Andalucia the educational system has been shown to be defective and deficient, producing sub-par scholars with sub-par results once the former enter the work force, but to discover, or rather, uncover a ring which offered diplomas for titles that the students never even studied for, well, the cake’s been taken and left out in the rain.
An organization calling itself The Independent Union of Workers of Cadiz, run by one Eladio Patricio G. S., (who apparently was kicked out of the one of Spain’s national workers unions), has offered tens of thousands of diplomas for money for several years.
The recipients first received a questionnaire and a manual for the course, and within days, the diploma itself, in spite of them having only just started to think about studying and exams etc. One student, who smelled a rat, finally reported this anonymously to the Guardia, who set in motion the investigation that finally uncovered the scam.
It was discovered also that the putative Union had zero official activity in union work, elections, representatives and so forth. The organization it seems was in league with a Canary Island company that validated the ‘diplomas.’ Said company was also allegedly involved with two PP officials. In total twelve people were arrested in connection with the scandal.