The Court of Auditors has found indications of a possible misuse of public funds in the purchase of a luxury penthouse in the Madrid neighborhood of Chamberí, acquired by the Community of Madrid for 6.3 million euros. After examining the seven complaints filed, the body has decided to continue the proceedings and move forward with an in-depth investigation to determine whether the transaction, driven by the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, caused harm to the public treasury.
The decision, adopted this Thursday and notified to the parties this Friday, has the backing of the Prosecutor’s Office and opens the door to the appointment of an instructor who may request documentation, take statements, and seek expert reports to determine the real value of the property. According to the order previewed by El País, the minister Rosario María Álvarez believes there are grounds to investigate a possible outflow of public funds that is “completely lacking in legal justification”.
The four irregularities the Court of Auditors will examine
In its 28-page ruling, the minister identifies four aspects of the transaction that justify continuing the investigation. The first affects the powers of Planifica, the public company responsible for the acquisition, which can only buy properties intended for administrative uses.
However, the penthouse is located in a residential building on General Martínez Campos Street, number 35, a circumstance that raises doubts about its suitability for housing units of the regional Administration.
This is added to by the fact that, as the order states, the Ministry of the Presidency itself justified the purchase with a report prepared in July in which reasons linked to the property’s residential use prevailed, despite the operation needing to respond to administrative needs.
The fourth issue concerns the price. The Court of Auditors wants to clarify whether the Community of Madrid paid an overprice for the penthouse, acquired for 6.3 million euros and subsequently put up for sale for 6.7 million, an amount that includes the taxes of the transaction.
The fact that the property continues to have no buyer has also drawn the attention of the auditing body. According to the ruling, this circumstance “may be indicative that the market has not absorbed the set sale price”.
The Community of Madrid asked for the proceedings to be shelved
During the preliminary examination of the complaints, the regional Executive requested that the proceedings be filed, considering that no proven economic loss existed.
Among its arguments, it argued that the eventual sale of the property below the acquisition cost would entail a merely hypothetical and future loss to assets, insufficient in its view to justify continuing the actions.
The Court of Auditors has rejected closing the file at this stage. The decision does not yet establish that harm to public funds has occurred or determine accounting responsibilities, but it will allow new investigative steps to be carried out to verify the circumstances of the purchase.
The Community of Madrid has five days from notification to file a petition for reconsideration before the councillor who issued the resolution, although its filing will not suspend the actions.
A purchase under judicial and accounting investigation
The acquisition of the penthouse came to light on 29 July, when El País reported that the Community of Madrid had bought the property to initially use it as a temporary office for the regional president.
The operation prompted criticism from left-wing parties, which questioned the intended destination for the home and linked the purchase to a possible interest in enabling an official residence for Ayuso.
In addition to the procedure opened in the Court of Auditors, the facts are being examined in an investigating court in Madrid, so the operation continues to be subject to investigations in two different areas.
One of the complainants who appeared, the lawyer Javier Flores, has announced that he will request the suspension of the process to sell the property during the investigation in order to preserve the evidence. "If a single euro has been lost, those who decided on this purchase will pay out of their own pocket, not the people of Madrid," he said.
Más Madrid and the PSOE attack Ayuso
Más Madrid spokesperson in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, has politically held the regional president responsible for the operation and has stated that the purchase of the penthouse responded to a "partisan use of the institutions".
The socialist candidate for the Community of Madrid, Óscar López, has also spoken out. He shared the news on his social media along with a video of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in which the PP president downplayed the cost of the acquisition. "Then they talk to you about mafia," López wrote.
The Comunidad de Madrid had not offered a new public assessment of the decision at the time its contents became known.
The next step will correspond to the Governing Council of the Court of Auditors, responsible for appointing the investigating officer who must determine whether there are accounting responsibilities for the use of public funds in this operation.