Óscar Puente believes the penthouse should cost Ayuso the elections: "More typical of a banana republic"

The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente has launched one of his harshest criticisms against Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the purchase of the controversial Chamberí penthouse. Puente believes that the Madrid government tried to acquire an official residence for the president "secretly" through a "despotic" use of public money.

"It amuses me that people talk about 'dictator Sánchez'. To me, this way of proceeding seems quite dictatorial, more typical of a banana republic than of a democracy," he stated in an interview with Europa Press.

Puente maintains that the regional Executive could have publicly raised the convenience of providing Ayuso with an institutional residence. His main reproach is directed at the chosen procedure, the lack of information about the operation, and the changing explanations offered when the purchase came to light.

The public company Planifica Madrid acquired the property on April 14 for 6.3 million euros. It is a 481-square-meter home located on Paseo del General Martínez Campos, in Chamberí, with a terrace of almost 200 meters, five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two parking spaces, and two storage rooms.

The regional government initially explained that the penthouse would be used for meetings and to temporarily house part of the Presidency team during planned works at the Real Casa de Correos. The property has residential use and doubts about its possible use as an office fueled the controversy.

Ayuso has denied that she requested an official residence and this Monday assured that she will not need one "ten months before an election". The president has tried to distance herself from the decision and attributes the operation to Planifica Madrid, which is dependent on the Ministry of the Presidency led by Miguel Ángel García Martín.

The minister has also linked the purchase to the private penthouses where Ayuso resides with her partner coming onto the market. According to Puente, the temporal coincidence and the location of the public property suggest an operation prepared "to her measure and secretly".

"Let's see what justice does"

The controversy has already reached the courts. Investigating Court number 8 of Madrid has opened proceedings after receiving five complaints related to the acquisition. The investigation is in an initial phase and will still have to determine if there are indications of any criminal responsibility.

Puente has compared the judicial treatment of the penthouse with the open case against Begoña Gómez. "If we weigh what we have just learned about the Community of Madrid, we will see what Justice does with this matter," he said after recalling that the wife of the Prime Minister will face trial for several crimes related to the software developed at the Complutense University and the participation of a Moncloa advisor in her private activities.

The minister believes that public resources could have been used in a "completely improper" manner and reproaches the Madrid government for not having offered a "minimally reasonable" explanation. He also questions whether a 6.3 million euro home can be justified as a temporary official dependency.

Planifica Madrid reacted to the scandal by putting the penthouse back on the market for 6.69 million euros. The deadline for submitting offers will remain open until September 7 and there is no record yet of a buyer.

The Community announced that it would allocate the income obtained from this operation and the sale of other public properties to the reconstruction of the towns affected by the fires in the Sierra Oeste. That decision came after the purchase became public and after Ayuso denied any intention of using the penthouse as a residence.

For Puente, the controversy could have much broader consequences. The minister believes that it "should" cost Ayuso the next regional elections, although he avoids making a prediction and frames the case within the set of controversies surrounding the president and her partner.

"Zapatero has to give explanations"

Puente has also commented on the investigation opened against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for his alleged role in the rescue of Plus Ultra. The minister sees a significant "shadow of nullity" over the procedure, but acknowledges that the former president must offer more public explanations about the investigated facts.

The case is largely based on messages extracted from the phone of former airline executive Rodolfo Reyes. The device was seized in the United States in 2021 and its content reached the UDEF in March of this year through police cooperation mechanisms.

Judge José Luis Calama has requested authorization from US authorities to incorporate these messages as evidence in a potential trial. The Audiencia Nacional must resolve the objections raised by Zapatero's defense and determine whether the information was obtained and transferred with all the required guarantees.

"I want to know if that phone interception was done with or without judicial authorization," Puente demanded. In his opinion, the validity of this evidence is decisive because it triggered an investigation that ended with the search of the former president's office and the discovery of jewels provisionally valued at 1.3 million euros.

Calama maintains a separate proceeding open for possible tax and smuggling offenses related to these jewels. Zapatero has explained that they come from a family inheritance and gifts received during trips, while investigators try to reconstruct their origin and tax traceability.

Puente believes that, if the US evidence were annulled, Zapatero would go from being investigated to "a victim of an operation" that "smells fishy" to him. He also drew attention to the moment the phone content arrived in Spain, under the Donald Trump Administration and with a Spanish Government uncomfortable for the White House.

The minister has separated these procedural doubts from the political explanations he demands from the former president. Zapatero already defended his version in an interview granted to TVE during July, but Puente believes that his situation requires a more extensive public response. The judge has agreed to study the possible nullity of some resolutions, while maintaining the legality of the searches and the separate investigation into the jewels.