Ayuso tries to deceive us with the millionaire penthouse bought with public money: is she preparing her 'official' residence for when she is ex-president?

A new day and a new controversy starring Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid. And this time it is an especially serious controversy, because the explanations offered by her own team to the media place her, at least apparently, in the realm of a possible irregularity. Furthermore, it is evident that the Government of the Community of Madrid is offering a version of events that raises serious doubts.

This Wednesday we learned that the Government of the Community of Madrid has acquired, with public money, a luxury penthouse located in the Madrid district of Chamberí. According to the official version, the property has not been purchased for residential use, but to temporarily house the headquarters of the regional Executive while the Real Casa de Correos, current headquarters of the regional Government, remains under construction. In other words, Isabel Díaz Ayuso's office would provisionally move from Puerta del Sol to that penthouse.

However, that explanation raises questions. It is enough to review the characteristics of the property: 480 square meters built, five bedrooms, five bathrooms, elevator, storage room, a building from 1957 and a very good construction rating. At first glance, it is difficult to identify this property with administrative offices.

But the issue is not just the appearance. According to the General Urban Planning Plan of Madrid, this property has exclusively residential use and is not intended for offices. This is what we have published in an investigation in the newspaper I direct, El Constitucional, after consulting official documentation. This is information that could be verified in a few minutes through public sources, so it is difficult to believe that the Government of the Community of Madrid itself is unaware of this circumstance.

If the penthouse has residential use and, even so, is presented as a future administrative headquarters, the question is inevitable: is the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso trying to hide the true destination of the property?

The doubt becomes even more relevant if one takes into account a statement by the president herself. In a public intervention, she affirmed that the Community of Madrid should have an official residence for its president, in order to avoid certain situations that, in her opinion, are embarrassing. That is, the need for an official residence is an idea that Ayuso herself has publicly defended.

Furthermore, sources from the Popular Party of Madrid consulted by El Constitucional assure that within the party itself a theory about this operation is circulating. It does not come from the opposition, but from leaders and people close to the president's inner circle. According to that rumor, the purchase of the penthouse would have as its true objective to convert it into a future official residence for Isabel Díaz Ayuso once she leaves the Presidency of the Community of Madrid.

Naturally, this hypothesis cannot be taken as true, because no one can know the personal intentions of the president. However, it is significant that this idea is circulating precisely in her closest political environment.

Therefore, the question remains open: has this property really been acquired to provisionally house the offices of the regional government or, on the contrary, is a future official residence being prepared for Isabel Díaz Ayuso? The explanations offered so far clash with the urban planning classification of the property and fuel doubts that, for the moment, remain without a convincing answer.