Santiago Abascal opens another front against Ayuso over the controversial purchase of the 6.3 million penthouse: "She will have to give explanations"

The leader of the far-right Vox, Santiago Abascal, has decided to publicly point out Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the controversial luxury penthouse acquired with public money by the Community of Madrid. Asked this Monday about the possible political consequences of the case, he took for granted that the regional president "will have to give explanations".

Abascal uttered these words during a press conference in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, although he immediately tried to close the matter. "Ms. Ayuso will have to give explanations, but I am not going to spend a single second more today," he stated before shifting his intervention towards the migratory crisis in Ceuta.

The far-right leader accused the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, of trying to place the penthouse among "the debates" of the day to divert attention from other issues. To do so, he again defined Ceuta as an "invaded" city and assured that the people of Ceuta "will suffer much more in the coming weeks."

The words leave, in any case, a direct criticism of a leader with whom Vox shares a good part of the electorate located further to the right in the Community of Madrid. Abascal could have avoided commenting on the operation. Instead, he expressly acknowledged that Ayuso still owes explanations for a purchase that has been politically pursuing the regional government for weeks.

The penthouse that Vox is already looking at with 2027 in mind

The controversy began after it became known that the public company Planifica Madrid had bought in April for 6.3 million euros a 481-square-meter penthouse on Paseo del General Martínez Campos, in Madrid's Chamberí neighborhood. The property is for residential use, has five bedrooms, and a large terrace of about 200 square meters.

The regional government initially defended that it would be used for meetings and as a temporary space linked to the Presidency of the Community. The explanation raised new doubts because the property is listed as a dwelling and did not meet the necessary urban planning conditions to legally function as an office.

Ayuso tried to personally distance herself from the operation and referred explanations to Planifica Madrid. Just a few days after the purchase was made public, the regional company put the penthouse back on sale for 6.69 million euros, about 390,000 euros more than what was paid four months earlier.

The movement has not gone unnoticed within Vox either. As 'ElConstitucional.es' published on August 8, the leadership of the ultra-right formation has been preparing its strategy for months to dispute the Community of Madrid with the PP and believes that the latest controversies have opened an opportunity that recently seemed much more complicated.

"If Juanma Moreno has fallen, Ayuso can fall," a Vox deputy then acknowledged to this newspaper when explaining the party's expectations. Abascal's intention is to prevent Ayuso from recovering an absolute majority in 2027 and to become indispensable for her to continue in the Puerta del Sol.

Vox still keeps secret who will head its regional candidacy. José Antonio Fúster, provincial president of the party, and Isabel Pérez Moñino, current spokesperson in the Madrid Assembly, appear among the names that have circulated internally for that battle.

Abascal's statement also comes as the deadline opened by Planifica Madrid to dispose of the property enters its final stretch. Offers to buy the controversial penthouse can be submitted until next September 7.