The former owner of Vitaldent, Ernest Coleman, He has denied in court that he was involved in it.to the issuance of falsified titles and he has assured that he had no record of irregularities until after his signature, detailing that the relations with the University of Córdoba were maintained by the IFACE Institute, whom he hired.
The Provincial Court of Madrid has started this Tuesday the trial against the former owner of the Vitaldent clinics for allegedly falsify titles university postgraduate course for eight students in the 2013-2014 academic year, in which the anagram of the University of Córdoba appeared, which however does not recognize them.
Thus the Prosecutor’s Office requests four years in prison for a crime of forgery of official document, as well as 20,000 euros in compensation for each of the injured students, since it is the price they paid for that training.
As explained by the Prosecutor’s Office in its indictment, the cause is addressed both to the Uruguayan businessman and to the companies Vital Formation and Open Dent, responsible for operating the Vitaldent clinics in Spain.
The Public Prosecutor maintains that the employer, as the sole administrator of Vital Training, entered into a training contract with IFACE (Institute for Training, Complementary Activities and Events) to teach a postgraduate course in surgery, periodontics, implantology and prosthodontics, which was taught by the Center for Higher Studies (CES) Vitaldent and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
Colman has specified in the trial that “subsequently, IFACE was contracted to obtain a collaboration agreement with the University of Córdoba”, since they wanted to add a university that taught medicine studies to the course, since the Polytechnic did not offer education in the health branch.
The employer has stated that the title “it has always had legal and academic validity with the Polytechnic of Catalonia” and that it was not until 2015, once the diplomas had already been signed, when they became aware of the irregularities with the Cordoba university.
Master of 20,000 euros
He has maintained that the additional training linked to the University of Córdoba was “free and voluntary” and that the 20,000 euros that the master’s degree cost, for which a loan was given to the eight students, they corresponded only to the two-year course endorsed by the Polytechnic of Catalonia.
On the other hand, three affected students have stated that it was not until the second year of the master’s degree that they were informed of the possibility of taking the complementary course with the Andalusian university and have confirmed that they were not charged anything for it.
One of them, who was already practicing as a surgeon in a Vitaldent clinic, explained thate began to suspect the validity of the diploma after members of the Cordoba College of Dentists alerted him to possible irregularities, which is why the students began to investigate.
They have also stated that the classes taught at the CES Vitaldent they were “chaotic, improvised and without a logical order” and that none of the degrees they received, that of the Polytechnic of Catalonia and that of the University of Córdoba, have helped them find employment.
This is not the main cause that affects Ernesto Colman, given that last December the National Courtal reopened the procedure so that a trial can be opened against the businessman and fifty people for the alleged fraud of the clinics of this group.