The other legal case that is chasing Ayuso
For years, a judge has been investigating the number three of the PP in Madrid for corruption.
MadridShould a deputy be able to remain in office while being investigated for corruption? This is the "reflection" to which the Supreme Court judge investigating José Luis Ábalos was invited this week. However, the case of the former Socialist Transport Minister is not the only one that raises this question. The opposition in the Madrid Assembly has long pointed to another case that is closely related to Isabel Díaz Ayuso. It is that of Ana Millán, the number three of the PP in Madrid, who is not only a deputy of the Popular Party (PP) in the regional chamber but also its vice president, and who retains these responsibilities while an investigation for corruption is ongoing.
Why is she being investigated?
Millán is being investigated in a Madrid investigating court for malfeasance, bribery, influence peddling, and fraud against the public administration. The case began in October 2020 when she was mayor of the Madrid municipality of Arroyomolinos, and the suspected events occurred before she was mayor but a councilor for the People's Party (PP) (from 2003 to 2019). According to a report by the Civil Guard's Central Operational Unit (UCO) from April 2024, Millán allegedly received financial compensation for the awarding of nine contracts, between 2005 and 2011, to various companies belonging to Francisco Roselló, amounting to more than €600,000. Millán has been under indictment since 2022.
How would she have benefited?
This report from the UCO (Central University of Catalonia) indicates that the businessman paid Millán's mortgage, community fees, and utilities for a penthouse in Arroyomolinos between 2008 and 2012, disguising it as a supposed rental amounting to €51,104.67. Furthermore, between 2008 and 2014, "numerous cash deposits of unknown origin" were detected in the councilor's accounts, totaling €42,650. The Civil Guard also raised suspicions about possible compensation due to the fact that Millán's sister and partner were hired by Roselló's companies, receiving a total of €88,642.42 and €37,758.04, respectively, between 2008 and 2011.
Political Career
Unlike Ábalos, Millán acquired the status of under investigation before having jurisdiction. Despite having this case underway in Court No. 6 of Navalcarnero (Madrid), Ayuso decided to place her on the lists for the 2023 Madrid elections as number eight. Also, when she was already under investigation, the Madrid president placed her as deputy secretary of organization for the Madrid PP as soon as Ayuso became party president, three years after becoming president of the autonomous region. It is known that Millán is a personal friend of Ayuso and one of her closest confidants.
The Madrid PP, the regional government, and Ayuso herself have all come out in defense of the former councilor under investigation. "Don't doubt that if you weren't in my circle, you wouldn't be under that media pressure," Ayuso said in September 2024 when the Madrid High Court (TSJM) opened proceedings against Millán, following the 2023 elections, when she became a member of parliament.
What is the status of the case?
A few months after her appointment, the TSJM (High Court of Justice) returned the case to the Navalcarnero investigator, considering that the investigation was incomplete and that the reasoned statement she had submitted to them did not provide sufficient evidence that the awards were related to these revenues. This September, the judge extended the investigation for another six months, while the person under investigation requested its dismissal. "There is absolutely nothing" against her, was the reaction of the PP spokesperson in the Madrid Assembly, Carlos Díaz-Pache, to the decision to investigate her for another six months.
Sources from the PSOE of Madrid, which is involved in the case, consulted by ARA, see a "maneuver" to "slow down" a case that "has been going on for many years" that is prolonged by the fact of having given Millán jurisdiction by making her a deputy and they emphasize that this case is "for a coup" so that it is no longer just Ábalos, but the Madrid Assembly is being used to "protect" her when she already was.
Another flank of Ayuso
The argument used by Ayuso to defend her number three is reminiscent of the one she used in the main legal case against her, that of her boyfriend for tax fraud, whom she presents as the victim of a political campaign against her. Both the Socialists and Más Madrid have also attacked her on this front. When the TSJM opened proceedings, Más Madrid called for Ana Millán's expulsion. "Every day that Ana Millán remains in office, Ayuso degrades the institutions and insults Madrid," they hammered home in a campaign also on social media. A year later, nothing has changed in the Madrid PP. "They won't back down; they believe that time heals all wounds," say the same sources from the Madrid PSOE.
