Más Madrid presented itself this Tuesday as a popular prosecution in the case of the purchase of a penthouse for 6.3 million euros by the Community of Madrid for a use that has not yet been entirely clear. The matter politically pursues Isabel Díaz Ayuso and may now also do so judicially in September. “If the reported facts are true, an activity that presumably would have harmed the general interest of the citizens due to a criminal and unacceptable behavior by the Administration would be under investigation,” reads the document submitted by Más Madrid and accessed by this newspaper.
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The opposition party with the greatest representation in the Madrid Assembly has requested to be part of the procedure opened two weeks ago by court number 8 of instruction following complaints filed with the Prosecutor’s Office by the PSOE, Iustitia Europea, and two individuals. In April, Planifica Madrid, a public company, acquired the property without announcing it, nor did the Madrid Government. It remained hidden until EL PAÍS revealed it. Ayuso said after the exclusive report that in that penthouse, at number 35 General Martínez Campos street, she was going to temporarily install her office due to works in the current headquarters, of which there was no news at that time. The PSOE also made public its accusation document this Tuesday, based on the complaint it had already filed on August 7.
The president of Madrid denied that it was her presidential residence. The fact is that, according to the law, it cannot be used for either purpose. The file that Planifica Madrid should have opened at the time should reveal all the details of the operation, but the Government has so far refused to show it. Ayuso has given explanations on several occasions, but in the last one, she assured that it must be the Minister of the Presidency, Miguel Ángel García Martín, who resolves all the mysteries surrounding this case.
Manuela Bergerot, the spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Assembly, has criticized the president after filing the document in the courts: “Ayuso has been in free fall since the penthouse case was uncovered and has completely lost the narrative. She knows that nothing will work to cover up the scandal, not even a confrontation with the Prime Minister. Ayuso is exhausted. She has nothing to say about Madrid, and the jokes she tries to defend herself with backfire on her.” Bergerot demands that “every single document that records the luxury purchase” be published and has no doubt that the responsibility for buying it lies with “Isabel Díaz Ayuso.” “And all of Spain knows that,” she says.
According to Más Madrid’s document, the facts could, indicatively, constitute the alleged crimes of administrative prevarication, embezzlement of public funds in its form of disloyal administration, fraud against the administration, and disloyal administration of public assets. The secrecy with which the operation was carried out raises suspicions: Although the operation apparently was formalized before a notary—generating the corresponding taxes and expenses, as well as the brokerage commission of the participating real estate agency—it was carried out opaquely, in absolute silence, and without adherence to the legally established procedure, which is mandatory for the acquisition of a property with public money by an Autonomous Community, in this case, the Community of Madrid, knowingly and fully aware of this non-compliance,” the document says.
Ayuso has wanted to close the controversy by putting the penthouse up for sale, but the crisis remains alive. The president begins the political course with the wind against her. She is trapped in a tangle from which it will not be easy to get out and which threatens to become a daily topic until the end of the year. In addition to the explanations from Minister García Martín, the documentation that Planifica Madrid is forced to make public under the Transparency Law will be added, revealing details until now unknown such as who, how, and why this luxury home was chosen for the president.
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