MADRID: Spain's minister of culture says he's resigning after just under a week in office over media revelations that he was fined for evading thousands of euros (dollars) in taxes.
Maxim Huerta, a former television presenter and writer, said during a news conference on Wednesday that he did nothing illegal and was stepping down to shield the new government of Prime Minister Pedro
Sanchez from criticism.
Huerta was sworn in as Culture and Sports Minister last Thursday, days after Sanchez ousted the previous prime minister,
Mariano Rajoy, based on graft scandals tainting Rajoy's conservative Popular Party.
Sanchez, a socialist who promised to root out corruption from the country's institutions, had been under pressure Wednesday to sack Huerta after Spanish news website El Confidencial reported that the minister had been fined for failing to declare over 218,000 euros ($257,000.)
Spanish minister of culture and sports Maxim Huerta (AFP)