Maria Blasco prepares a complaint before the Prosecutor’s Office against the manager of the CNIO, investigated for embezzlement

The scientific director of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Maria Blascohas called the media to the research center this Tuesday to raise the tone in the defense of his management and put the focus on the center’s manager, Juan Arroyo, whom he remembers has been reported for fraud, influence peddling and embezzlement.

“I am going to present a complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office for a situation that I believe harms me as director of the CNIO,” Blasco announced. She is also preparing a report before the Ministry of Science on the difficulties of having two directorates at the center (scientific and economic) and the discrepancies with Arroyo, who was already at the institution when she assumed direction in 2011.

The scientific director has denied that she intends to resign and has revealed that the Ministry of Science has been on the verge of dismissing Arroyo from her position on two occasions, due to various controversies related to her management. Among them, he has cited the return of a loan that put the center in the red as of 2011 and the complaint filed against him in the Provincial Court of Madrid for alleged “repetitive awards to companies with personal ties” between the years 2017 and 2018.

Asked about these statements, the Ministry of Science has declined to comment and refers to the holding of the next meeting of the Board of Trustees, scheduled for January 29. Blasco has denied that she feels little supported by the ministry and has revealed that she has requested a meeting with the head of the portfolio, Diana Morant.

Victim, like other women

In the last two months, the director of the largest cancer research center in Spain has been the subject of a storm of criticism and accusations about her management. The complaints of a third of the group leaders of the center, who have asked for their resignation due to structural deficit, the lack of technical equipment, complaints from workers about their low salary and an accusation of workplace harassment by a worker, led to the decision of the Board of Trustees of the institution, on December 17, to give Blasco and Arroyo a period of one month to present detailed reports on the situation separately.

Blasco considers himself the victim of a misinformation campaign and at the end of December he requested protection from the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, with whom he held a meeting and whom he requested, without success, to carry out an independent audit of his management and that of the managing director of the CNIO. .

I have not harassed anyone in my life, it is an extremely serious accusation. In any case, I have suffered this harassment, like other women who are in a position of power.

Maria Blasco
— Scientific Director of the CNIO

The researcher has defended herself once again against accusations of harassment of the center’s workers and believes that the fact of being a woman explains the campaign to which she has been subjected. “I have not harassed anyone in my life, it is an extremely serious accusation. In any case, I have suffered that harassment, like other women who are in a position of power,” she said, alluding to the situation experienced at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, where four female directors were dismissed due to accusations of alleged harassment. , which led more than a hundred scientists to publish a protest letter in the magazine Nature.

Workers at the center have criticized the way in which the funds destined for research and the CNIO Arte program have been handled, and a complaint of workplace harassment and abuse of authority has been filed against Blasco, for which insufficient evidence was found, according to has been able to check this diary.

“I want to announce that in the Board of Trustees’ report I have asked that the origin of this campaign of discredit towards the CNIO and towards me be investigated, blaming the responsibilities that are not mine, but rather that of the manager,” Blasco assured. His intention is not to leave, he explains, but to complete his work at the institution, where he has been for more than twenty years.

“I am, above all, a public servant who wants to complete her task,” Blasco concluded. “I have acted with maximum transparency and a time has come when I demand that the person with the economic skills come to light. The manager must also be exemplary, both in form and substance.”