In private chats, members of the PP have spread like wildfire images of Alberto González Amador’s homes put up for sale on Idealista and on the Gilmar real estate agency’s website. No one understands how the president’s boyfriend, who is under investigation for the significant growth of his wealth in recent years and a possible tax fraud for which he will be tried, could have been so “negligent” when uploading the photos of the listings. They show the dresses and shoes that Isabel Díaz Ayuso has worn on great occasions, easily identifiable, and even a towel embroidered with her name, in case there was any doubt. Hanging on one of the walls is a diploma awarded to Amador by an association dedicated to the exhibition of historic airplanes. “Can you be more careless?” they ask in disbelief within the Popular Party. That perplexity has even reached the president’s inner circle, which this time finds few elements of defense in favor of the businessman.
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Anyone with even minimal knowledge of the real estate sector knows that images of houses for sale should not include elements that could identify the owners. Privacy is fundamental in a business where discretion is paramount, especially in a country as reserved as Spain when it comes to talking about money. That is why the distraction is even harder to understand. If any of the millions of Idealista users should have been extremely cautious, it was González Amador. He did not.
“He is a very absent-minded guy,” someone who knows him tries to justify, certain that Ayuso was bothered to see her privacy exposed in such an absurd way. The mistake is so big that some believe Amador left those clues on purpose. For hours, the matter was the talk of Spain, but especially in Génova, where they could not quite understand what was happening. Amador’s negligence was actually the least of the problems.
It was the second mistake coming from Sol, the seat of the Madrid Government, in just over 48 hours. An anomaly in communicative terms for Ayuso, who with Miguel Ángel Rodríguez as her chief advisor has navigated one crisis after another since she has governed with astonishing ease. Politicians considered more astute have fallen for much less. But this time there is a feeling in the party that the mistake was very big and that the response was even worse. It all started on Wednesday, when EL PAÍS reported that the regional government had bought in April, through a public company, a luxury penthouse in the Chamberí district, the same type of property that Amador bought after committing the alleged tax fraud of 300,000 euros for which he became known.
In the penthouse, sources from the Community of Madrid explained, they were going to temporarily install Ayuso’s office while some remodeling works were finished, which are scheduled for late October or early November. The problem is that, by regulation, offices are not allowed in that residential building. After this newspaper revealed all these details, the Minister of the Presidency, Miguel Ángel García Martín, later said they would put the penthouse back on the market, which according to official sources cost around six million euros.
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Ayuso and her circle were trapped in that tangle for hours. The president offered somewhat vague explanations about the reason for the purchase and her party did not support her with much enthusiasm. When asked, Ayuso’s team downplayed it and said they were focused on the fires that have ravaged Madrid, but the argument is unconvincing: Ayuso, days before, had handed over command of the crisis to the central government. Not even the secretary general of the Madrid PP, Alfonso Serrano, someone who does not miss a single dialectical debate, especially if there is a scandal involved, has spoken out on X. Suddenly, silence has fallen.
The Ceuta crisis, where 50,000 immigrants arrived suddenly on Thursday, has taken precedence on the agenda and has pushed the penthouse issue into the background. However, it seems to be one of those mistakes that are hard to forget in politics. No one understands why the Community of Madrid felt the need to buy a property—precisely a luxury penthouse—right in the neighborhood where the president lives. If the intention was to buy and later announce an official residence for Madrid presidents, like those in other regions, the move could not have gone worse.
The matter has opened a rift in the myth of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez’s infallibility, who is in turn escorted by José Luis Carreras. Rodríguez is the first line of defense for Ayuso. In crises, everyone looks to him. He does not hesitate to circulate false information or distort facts if it protects the president. He does not shy away from playing the villain. Because of one of his maneuvers, after a big mess, the Attorney General was condemned and removed from office, something that had never happened before in Spain.
In June, this newspaper revealed that Amador invoiced 4.4 million euros between 2021 and 2023 to Quirón, the main contractor of the Madrid Government in health matters. The information was supported by a tax report. Rodríguez denied that news despite the evidence and leaked to journalists a series of data about Quirón and Madrid that had nothing to do with the issue: the squid tactic to muddy the waters. This time there was no magic trick from Rodríguez, the facts were what they were and he did not fight to interpret them. ABC, one of the benchmarks of the conservative press, published an editorial titled Ayuso owes an explanation. So far she has not given one. And that has everyone confused. The president and her circle have experienced their most erratic hours.
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