In the last four months, Planifica Madrid had not updated its agenda, an online calendar that until the end of March showed in detail all its events, meetings, visits, or projects. They even marked the day they collected the Christmas baskets last winter or if they had been featured in any television report. But since April, the month in which the public company bought the luxury penthouse in Chamberí, nothing. Nor in May, June, or July. No events. Until this Friday: they have started updating the events one by one and only a few hours after this newspaper published the strange opacity of the website.
This newspaper asked on Thursday a spokesperson from the Presidency Department, on which Planifica Madrid depends, about the lack of information, whether that meant there had been no activities for months and how they usually update the agenda, but received no response. On Friday morning, the events that had not been consultable for four months began to appear on the calendar drip by drip. Every few minutes, they add a new one. So far, they have completely filled April ―there are now 22 events between Monday the 6th and Tuesday the 28th that until a few hours ago were not there― and May.
Most are meetings with authorities from the Community of Madrid, mayors of other municipalities, or companies. Also a visit to works at a fire station or a course on the artificial intelligence tool Copilot. But the key day is April 14, Tuesday, when the 485 square meter penthouse was purchased that does not appear in Planifica Madrid’s budgets for this year and about which nothing was known until EL PAÍS revealed the acquisition for 6.3 million euros. On that day, now, four months later, there is a new brief entry: “NOTARY SIGNING. 14:00. EXTERNAL.” Clicking on it shows that the event was on Alcalá street, but not the number nor who participated.
Until this Friday, the last activity recorded in the calendar was from March 26: “FIRST STONE FIRE STATION COBEÑA. 11:00.” And the day before, the last board meeting ―the company’s governing body responsible for making decisions― before the strange acquisition.
The public company began using this online calendar in July 2023 and the entries were less frequent at first, but increased over the years. Since 2025, all kinds of activities were recorded and that had been the trend during the first three months of 2026. They recorded, for example, the collection of Christmas baskets “bread and fish” on December 4 at 13:00, the initiative for children to meet the Three Wise Men on the 23rd of that month, or a television report at the Picasso Museum in Buitrago de Lozoya on February 25.
Read more Agustín Iglesias, mayor of Independencia: “I had a mystical experience at a healing mass”
In fact, they also recorded the purchase of a property acquired in 2025 for which they approved a specific budget modification, which has not been done in the case of the penthouse. It was the former house of the poet Vicente Aleixandre, Velintonia, which cost a little over three million euros. Almost everything related to it appears in the agenda: the visits prior to the purchase, the key handover, or the public opening event. They also recorded in the calendar the sale of one of their buildings, located on Santa Catalina street, near the Congress of Deputies, because it is an unusual operation. The public company does not usually sell and buy properties throughout the year. On September 15, 2025, they visited the property and on November 28 at 13:00 they signed the contract and the building passed into the hands of a Mexican real estate company. There was nothing registered anywhere about the penthouse in Chamberí. Now, it is known that on April 14 there was a signing at a notary, but they do not specify what was signed nor who did it.
The regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP), has delegated all explanations about the penthouse to the Minister of Presidency, Miguel Ángel García Martín. “I have to refer [the questions] to the Department because, among other things, it is the one that not only has detailed information but also the communication channels for that purpose,” she said on Wednesday in Villa del Prado, one of the municipalities affected by the fires. Neither he nor the president have clarified what the initial need was to buy a penthouse at number 35 General Martínez Campos promenade, with five bedrooms and six bathrooms, nor why they decided to sell it barely 24 hours after the purchase was discovered, nor who gave the order, nor why it was not reported, nor why it did not appear in the company’s budgets, nor where the file is or if they considered other apartments.
The PSOE announced this Friday that it will take the purchase of the Chamberí penthouse to court. The secretary general of the Madrid socialists, Óscar López, has stated that he will report the board of directors of Planifica Madrid to the Economic Crimes Prosecutor’s Office to investigate possible crimes of administrative misconduct and embezzlement, among others. “I feel sorry for all those others who have been doing this activity so that Mrs. Ayuso has a penthouse. They will regret it,” López said in a statement given at Ferraz, the party’s national headquarters.
Do you have something to tell? Write to the authors at lfranco@elpais.es and bolaizola@elpais.es
