Telemadrid hands over its anti-corruption program to the new production company of Antonio Naranjo's brother, while another of his companies owes more than a million to the Treasury

Telemadrid will premiere this Sunday 'Investigación Abierta' (Open Investigation), a program dedicated to following major corruption cases and presented by Pilar Rodríguez Losantos, non-executive president of OKDIARIO. The production has been handled by Lavanda Audiovisual, a company created less than a year ago and managed by Julio Rafael Rodríguez Naranjo, brother of the channel's presenter Antonio Naranjo.

The choice acquires special relevance due to the business history of its administrator. Rodríguez Naranjo remains at the head of Prensa Universal SL, the publishing company of the defunct 'Diario de Alcalá', which appears on the latest list of large debtors of the Tax Agency with more than 1.07 million euros pending. The company has been on this official list for about a decade without the debt disappearing.

The corporate structure allows separating both paths. Prensa Universal retains the debt with the Treasury, and Lavanda Audiovisual, constituted as a different company, can undertake new projects. The same administrator maintains a company with more than a million pending with public coffers while beginning to produce for a television financed with public money through a newly created company.

An old debt and a newly launched production company

Lavanda Audiovisual began its operations on October 10, 2025, with a share capital of 3,000 euros. In January, it increased it to 4,000. Barely eleven months after its birth, Telemadrid has entrusted it with a weekly 60-minute program that will occupy Sunday nights and which the channel itself promotes as its new commitment to investigative journalism.

The Public Sector Contracts Law prevents contracting with companies that are not up to date with their tax and Social Security obligations. The requirement is checked on the company receiving the order, in this case Lavanda Audiovisual, so Prensa Universal's debt does not automatically constitute a legal prohibition. This is precisely where the controversy lies: the same administrator can maintain a company that owes more than a million euros to the Treasury and work for a public entity through another company, legally independent and constituted barely eleven months before the program's premiere.

Prensa Universal once again found itself at the center of controversy when the Treasury published its latest list of major debtors. Antonio Naranjo had been a shareholder, director, and editorial director of the group, while his brother Julio has held the position of sole administrator since 2011. The current Telemadrid presenter then responded by showing certificates proving that he personally was up to date with his payments. That defense delimited Naranjo's personal responsibility, but the debt of the company managed by his brother remained intact.

Telemadrid has also not explained how much 'Investigación Abierta' will cost, for how long it will be broadcast, or under what economic conditions its production has been commissioned to Lavanda Audiovisual. The public channel merely announces that the program will feature its own investigations and a panel composed of Ketty Garat, Teresa Gómez, Alejandro Entrambasaguas, Esteban Urreiztieta, María Jamardo, and Blanca Valdés.

The show will premiere this Sunday at 9:30 p.m. By then, the Madrid public television will still have to explain how it selected a production company that is eleven months old and what assessment it made of the business trajectory of its administrator, who continues to lead a company that has been included for years among the largest debtors to the Treasury.