The Community of Madrid has held the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, responsible for "shamefully paralyzing" in 2018 the review of the amortization schedule of Madrid Network, coinciding with the change of leadership in La Moncloa, a decision that, according to the regional Executive, has led to the non-payment of loans linked to this entity.
During his appearance this Wednesday before the Budget and Finance Committee of the Assembly, the Deputy Minister of Finance and Public Function, Juan Revuelta, stressed that several companies have ended up in bankruptcy proceedings and that Madrid Network remains awaiting the conclusion of the various liquidation processes opened.
"Madrid Network has taken legal action against the borrower, its guarantors, and is awaiting the execution of the guarantees provided. In most of them, the recoverable amount is uncertain, as the companies are in liquidation proceedings or awaiting judicial execution of the guarantees they had constituted," the deputy minister indicated.
Revuelta recalled that it was in 2018 when the entity stopped paying the annual loan installment. From that moment on, all subsequent payments were stopped because "it was not going to continue paying without the prior modification of the amortization schedule," after having repaid 4 million early and "they were not going to be paying interest for ten years on 80 million euros."
As he explained, following the recommendation of the corresponding committee, meetings were held with the central government to update the amortization schedule and "a draft was reached," but those conversations were suspended in 2018 due to "a change of government."
"We tried on several occasions to resume negotiations with the Ministry, always at the proposal of the Community of Madrid, without achieving absolutely anything. Suddenly, in 2021, they granted us a meeting to inform us, in a rather arrogant manner, that the agreement could not be modified based on a report from the Legal Service, which did not appear at any time," criticized Revuelta.
With the updated amortization schedule now approved and in execution of the corresponding court ruling, the Community of Madrid has processed a new payment calendar for its agreement, although its implementation "is proving to be endless."
MÁS MADRID AND PSOE CENSURE THE "LOOTING"
From Más Madrid, deputy Marta Lozano has lashed out at the PP for "systematically refusing" to provide data on who were the beneficiaries of the loans, "with the excuse of protecting companies' commercial data."
"It was that structure chosen to loot the public coffers of Madrid and those 80 million euros. They were for R&D&i projects. They were to fatten the pockets of relatives and friends of the Popular Party," the parliamentarian denounced.
Lozano has also questioned "how it was possible that more than 50% of the loans granted were not repaid, when in traditional banking, the loans, in the delinquency rate, do not exceed 2%." "We are talking about practically 60% of loans not being repaid," she pointed out.
On behalf of the PSOE, deputy Fernando Fernández has lamented these "millionaire defaults" and has insisted that their collection "should constitute the absolute priority for any responsible official of the Madrid public treasury."
"Far from offering that clarity, the regional Government has turned this matter into a paradigmatic example of lack of transparency, even going so far as to appeal to the Supreme Court to, I don't know if to keep hidden the delivery of the reports of the companies that are within Madrid Network," she reproached.
In this vein, she has demanded "to resolve that increasingly deep hole" in the Community's public accounts. "The uncertainties also remain in force today. Why are subsidies still being paid? Why so much effort to keep hidden the accounts and annual reports of Madrid Network, which today the Supreme Court obliges the Community to make public?" she asked.
VOX DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY
Vox deputy Ana Cuartero has demanded a detailed explanation from the regional Executive or, "at least," that all available documentation on the granting of funds to each project be published with "transparency."
"We expect that behavior that promotes knowledge on the part of this Government and not the one it has been having of trying to prevent information from reaching all Madrid residents. Companies should expose complete information on all projects that received funding," she emphasized.
Cuartero maintains that the regional Government is "obligated" to clarify if citizens "are going to have to eat those 80 million and pay them euro after euro in taxes" or if it will opt to "open Pandora's box, take each and every one of those projects and see if those project awards were truly reasonable".