A court is already investigating the purchase of the controversial penthouse for Ayuso after five complaints for the 6.3 million paid with public money

The purchase of the Chamberí penthouse by the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso is now under judicial investigation. Investigating Court number 8 of Madrid has opened proceedings to examine the acquisition of the property by Planifica Madrid, a public company dependent on the Community, for 6.3 million euros.

The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid sent to the court this Monday another four complaints about the same operation, one filed by the PSOE and three signed by individuals. These writings will be incorporated into the proceedings opened based on the complaint that Iustitia Europa brought directly before Justice last week.

The case thus brings together five complaints related to the purchase, although all will be concentrated within the same procedure. The court still has to decide the scope of the investigation, the proceedings it carries out, and the possible responsibilities, without any person having been summoned as investigated for the moment.

The decision of the Prosecutor's Office appears in a decree signed by the deputy prosecutor of Madrid, José Luis García-Juanes. The Public Ministry has archived its pre-procedural proceedings because the legislation prevents maintaining two parallel investigations into the same facts when a court has already opened a procedure.

This archiving is of a technical nature and does not mean that the complaints have been rejected. The four writings, along with all the documentation provided, will be transferred to the magistrate in charge of clarifying how the purchase was decided and whether the actions of those responsible for Planifica Madrid had criminal relevance.

Five complaints about an operation marked by opacity

The PSOE has directed its complaint against the board of directors of Planifica Madrid for possible crimes of administrative prevarication and embezzlement of public funds. The socialists have also taken the file to the Court of Accounts to study whether the use of public funds could generate accounting responsibilities.

Iustitia Europa extended the suspicions to a possible disloyal administration of public assets. Its brief requests that the court ask for the complete file of the acquisition, the valuations used, the reports that justified the need to buy the property, the financial and urban planning documentation, and the agreements adopted by the company's management bodies.

The complaint also requests information about the intervention of the Ministry of the Presidency, which Planifica Madrid depends on, the projected works in the Real Casa de Correos, the commissions paid to intermediaries, and the tax costs assumed during the operation. Among the questioned documents also appears the confidentiality agreement required from the property before closing the sale.

The penthouse was acquired on April 14 without the operation appearing in the public company's annual budget. Its existence remained unknown to the public until the end of July, when details of a purchase that also did not appear on the contracting portal nor had been communicated by the regional government began to emerge.

The Madrid Executive initially explained that the property could be used as a temporary office for Ayuso and a small team during the planned works at the Presidency headquarters. Later, it assured that its definitive destination had not yet been decided, while doubts arose about the possibility of installing offices or administrative dependencies there due to urban planning regulations.

Ayuso tried to distance herself from the operation and stated that she was unaware of the sales made by Planifica Madrid. Her Minister of the Presidency, Miguel Ángel García Martín, subsequently defended the need to find an alternative space during the works in the Real Casa de Correos and recalled that other regional presidents have official residences or dependencies.

The explanations also did not clarify why a luxury penthouse of 485 square meters, 199 of which are terrace, located on Paseo del General Martínez Campos, was chosen. The PSOE considers it impossible to justify an acquisition of these characteristics to cover a temporary administrative need.

Planifica Madrid tries to sell it four months later

The public company has reacted to the controversy by putting the penthouse back on the market. The property went up for auction last Friday for 6.69 million euros, about 400,000 euros more than the 6.3 million paid in April.

The Community of Madrid maintains that the money obtained will be used to finance the reconstruction of areas damaged by forest fires in the Sierra Oeste. Planifica Madrid has included the penthouse in a package of public properties it intends to sell for that purpose.

The auction sale also does not close the judicial investigation. The court may examine the initial decision to buy the property, the price paid, the intermediation costs, and the subsequent sale. The speed with which the Madrid government has renounced the penthouse is part of the doubts raised by the complainants about the true necessity of that acquisition.

Óscar López, Secretary General of the PSOE of Madrid, has demanded Ayuso's resignation, the return of "every last euro" and the clearing of possible responsibilities. The socialist leader accuses the president of offering changing versions since an operation that he has defined as a "colossal blunder" came to light.

The purchase that the Madrid government first presented as a possible temporary solution for the Presidency has ended up becoming a new judicial front for Ayuso. Investigating Court number 8 now has five complaints in its hands and must decide what documentation to request to reconstruct the Planifica Madrid operation.