The penthouse of 485 square meters in the Chamberí district, which was acquired by the Community of Madrid through the public company Planifica Madrid Proyectos y Obras M.P.S.A, will be put up for sale “in the coming days,” along with the other four properties, also owned by the autonomous community, on Gran Vía street, all for an amount close to 20 million euros. However, the value of this particular property has not been specified.
This was confirmed this Thursday by the Minister of Presidency, Justice and Local Administration, Miguel Ángel García Martín, on whom Isabel Díaz Ayuso placed the responsibility yesterday for the purchase of this property which, according to the official version, was going to be used as a temporary office during the renovation of the Royal Post Office, the seat of the Madrid government.
García Martín explained to the media that, during this year, the regional government had already sold another residential property in Santa Catalina for a value of 26 million euros – plus VAT – and that the autonomous community “saw the possibility of acquiring this property to put it at the service of the Government and the different ministries.”
However, he said, the “priority” of the Madrid executive is focused on the reconstruction of the Sierra Oeste after the fires and, therefore, it was decided to put up for sale “immediately” the five aforementioned properties. A procedure that, he detailed, will be carried out through the “distribution of dividends – for an amount equivalent to the sale price – that the public company will make in 2026.”
“Looking for ghosts”
The Minister accused the left of “trying to look for ghosts where there are none” while living, he says, “the state corruption that our country had not experienced in years,” with the conviction of the brother of the Prime Minister, the former Attorney General of the State, or the judicial situation of Begoña Gómez.
“So many shames to cover up that we are capable of looking for any ghost so that the PSOE, Más Madrid, Sumar, the left and the far left do not have to talk about the embarrassing spectacle that our country is giving because of sanchismo,” he added.
Furthermore, García Martín insisted that all the properties were acquired to put them at the “service of the Community of Madrid” and emphasized that, unlike other regional presidents or “half of the ministers of this country,” the regional president “does not have an official residence.”
“The Prime Minister, in the middle of the fires and when the city of Ceuta was being invaded, was at the royal residence of ‘La Mareta’ enjoying his vacation with more security than in the entire autonomous city. And they don’t want us to talk about that,” he added.
For the Government spokesperson, the Community of Madrid has given explanations “from minute one,” in a “clear and transparent” way, and assured that all administration expenses are published on the different transparency portals.
The Government delegate demands Ayuso’s resignation
The Government delegate in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín, has called for the resignation of the regional president, considering that she has “used” the pain of the neighbors affected by the fires to “cover up the miseries” of the penthouse purchase.
Martín described the situation as “extremely serious” and accused Díaz Ayuso of using that pain to cover up the “democratic degradation” of the Community.
He also reproached her for “passing the buck” of that purchase to her Minister and spokesperson, something that would demonstrate, he says, her “moral character.”
“Magma of impunity”
For her part, the Minister of Health and upcoming regional candidate for Más Madrid, Mónica García, accused Díaz Ayuso, in an interview on Radio Nacional de España, of “living in a magma of impunity” due to the “bizarre” operation of buying and later selling the penthouse.
Like the delegate, García criticized that the president shifts her responsibility to the spokesperson of her Government, stating that “she is not only selling the penthouse but also her minister.”
For the Minister, Díaz Ayuso “did not come to do politics, she came to do private business.” Therefore, from her point of view, she maintains “a lifestyle absolutely unaffordable for any public official in this country.”
