OLIVE Press readers who picked up a copy of the paper late last month will remember regular columnist Charlie Mullins having a few choice words for the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
He branded the €6.3 million purchase of a luxury Madrid penthouse by Ayuso’s right-wing regional government as the latest example of the corruption he says is rampant in Spanish politics – and a particularly bad look for the country’s democracy.
As the row refuses to go away, it is worth taking a step back and asking: what exactly is going on with Ayuso and her penthouse, and why does it matter?
The short answer is that Madrid’s regional government bought a luxury apartment in the swanky Chamberi neighbourhood of the capital in April, supposedly so Ayuso could use it as a temporary office while renovation works were carried out at the Real Casa de Correos, the regional government’s normal HQ.
There was just one problem. The property is legally classified for residential use – not as an office.
To add to the woes, Ayuso’s government reportedly informed a luxury estate agent that it wanted a property of between 250 and 400 square metres with a large terrace.
The latter is a rather unusual request for a temporary government office.
The €6.3 million price tag – funded by taxpayers – also raised eyebrows.
Ayuso, one of the leading figures in the conservative Partido Popular (PP), initially dismissed the controversy as a ‘smear campaign’, insisting the property was not bought as a home for her and adding she had not had ‘the faintest idea’ about the purchase.
Her government later said it would sell the apartment, with the proceeds donated to victims of this summer’s devastating wildfires around Madrid.
Ayuso herself attempted to draw a line under the affair with one of her trademark soundbites: ‘Está en venta, chao pescao’ – roughly, ‘It’s up for sale, see you later, alligator’.
But that has proved far easier said than done.
A Madrid judge is now investigating five separate complaints over the purchase, while Ayuso’s own boss, PP national leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, has acknowledged that questions remain over why a property that cannot legally be used as an office was bought in the first place.
There is also an awkward contradiction over who knew what and when.
Feijoo says Ayuso’s team told him in April that they were looking for a temporary office, which appears difficult to square with her insistence that she knew nothing whatsoever about the purchase.
The whole affair is particularly awkward for Ayuso given she has built much of her political brand attacking Pedro Sanchez and his left-wing government over corruption, transparency and political accountability.
She has repeatedly presented herself as the uncompromising voice of opposition to the current prime minister, accusing his PSOE administration of corruption and demanding answers over scandals surrounding close political allies and family members.
But now, it is Ayuso who is facing questions relating to corruption and misuse of public office.
Sanchez has noticed, and recently sought to dig the boot into one of his fiercest political adversaries.
In a recent interview with Cadena SER, the prime minister went on a full-pronged attack, saying: “This woman wanted to buy herself a luxury penthouse with the money of the people of Madrid to live in – and she has been caught.”
He accused the PP of having a serious problem with transparency and accountability, and demanded that Feijoo explain what he knew about the purchase.
Ayuso’s camp, unsurprisingly, hit back, accusing Sanchez of lying and attempting to distract attention from his own political problems, such as the ongoing Ceuta migration crisis.
Politically, the scandal is unlikely to destroy Ayuso – she remains one of the most powerful figures in the PP and is still widely expected to seek another term as Madrid’s regional president.
But the controversy could inflict damage at the margins, particularly if the judicial investigation continues and questions lingering over the purchase remain unanswered.
With a general election expected next year, the row could also damage the PP’s credibility as an anti-sleaze alternative to Sanchez after years of corruption scandals have dogged his government – and give the embattled prime minister a welcome political lifeline as he battles to cling to power.
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