The Councillor for the Presidency, Miguel Ángel García Martín, appears in the Assembly to justify the purchase of a luxury penthouse with public money and apologises to the president. The opposition denounces contradictions and the concealment of key documents regarding the operation.
The Councillor for the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration, Miguel Ángel García Martín, appeared this Thursday, September 17, in the Assembly of Madrid to defend the purchase of a luxury penthouse in Chamberí for 6.3 million euros. He did so at his own request, as he claimed, after almost two months without providing explanations, and demanded that the opposition groups apologise to President Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the accusations made regarding the so-called penthouse case.
The information, reported by elsaltodiario.com, details that the councillor focused his speech on the documents that his department published on the Transparency Portal at the end of the plenary session. The report justifies the purchase for accommodating foreign leaders, replacing offices of the Royal Post House during renovations, and providing temporary accommodation for senior officials, as occurred during the pandemic. However, the acquisition was formalised on April 14, and the document with those justifications is dated July 2, two and a half months later.
What they need to do now is apologise to the President of Madrid!” García Martín demanded of the opposition groups.
Sources familiar with the operation linked to Ayuso's Government have admitted to El Salto that the initial contacts between the Executive and the public company Planifica Madrid were oral and informal, and that there is no email documenting that initial moment. These same sources do not deny that the leadership at Sol knows who was the senior official or civil servant who first raised the need for the purchase, although they do not confirm their identity.
The CEO of Planifica, Pedro Corbalán, had a notarised power to make purchases with minimal limitations, signed by Ayuso's number two. The PSOE spokesperson, Mar Espinar, asked García Martín twice about this matter during the appearance and did not receive a response.
Other points that remained unclear include why the first official response to the newspaper El País, included in its exclusive report, stated that the acquisition was for use as the president's office due to renovations in Sol, and not what is stated in the report. He also did not explain why, if there was a need, the property was abruptly sold with the argument that the money would go to the victims of the fires in the Sierra de Guadarrama.
The councillor did not comment on the coincidence that the purchase took place on Martínez Campos street, the same street where Ayuso's mother lives and where she resided as a young woman. The operation amounts to one euro and five cents for each adult resident of the region, according to the calculations released.
The opposition in the Assembly continues to raise doubts about the process and demands the president's appearance. The regional Government insists that the purchase was legal and that the published documents support their version.
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