Más Madrid takes Ayuso's bullfighting subsidies to the Court of Accounts: denounces an alleged network of favoritism and tailor-made contracts

Más Madrid has filed this Wednesday a complaint before the Tribunal de Cuentas against the management of the bullfighting subsidies promoted by the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The party maintains that the Comunidad de Madrid would have articulated for years a system of agreements with the Fundación Toro de Lidia which, according to the complaint, would have served to circumvent the controls inherent to public procurement.

The document, signed by spokesperson Manuela Bergerot, points to an alleged network of fraud, opacity, and favoritism in the distribution of funds destined for bullfighting shows between 2021 and 2025. Más Madrid especially points out the role of Espectáculos Marisma S.L., a company owned by Rafael Fernández Ayuso, which would have concentrated a growing part of the contracts linked to these programs.

According to the complaint, the Fundación Toro de Lidia received public funds from the Community of Madrid through agreements that, in practice, functioned as subsidies. The party recalls that the High Court of Justice of Madrid annulled in December of last year the 2023 agreement considering that under that formula an "authentic subsidy" had been instrumented.

Más Madrid estimates at 567,650 euros the amount that the Bullfighting Foundation would have failed to contribute as co-financing between 2021 and 2023. The complaint alleges that the Community of Madrid accepted economic justifications that only covered the public part of the agreements, without claiming the contribution committed by the private entity.

One of the central points of the document is the concentration of shows in the hands of Espectáculos Marisma. According to the documentation provided, this company would have come to monopolize in 2025 37% of the festivities financed through the program, after successive changes in the bases that expanded the number of assignable slots per entrepreneur.

The complaint also points to possible irregularities in several Madrid city councils governed by the PP, where Más Madrid detects repeated awards to the same companies, minor contracts, urgent procedures and tenders appealed by other bullfighting companies. The formation speaks of a pattern of territorial distribution and a possible clientelistic network around bullfighting contracting.

The document demands from the Tribunal de Cuentas a comprehensive audit of the agreements signed by the Comunidad de Madrid and the Fundación Toro de Lidia since 2021. It also asks to investigate possible duplicities in the financing received by the foundation in other autonomous communities, provincial councils, and city councils.

Más Madrid considers that the facts may have caused economic harm to public coffers and asks to ascertain accounting responsibilities. “We are facing management aimed at fraudulently favoring a specific company,” concludes the complaint, which also demands an investigation into the role of the Centro de Asuntos Taurinos in the control of these funds.