Isabel Díaz Ayuso returns to the plenary session of the Madrid Assembly on Thursday, just as the trial takes place against the attorney general, accused of having leaked an email from her partner’s lawyer. It is the second and final week of the trial. The president of the Community of Madrid tried to stay focused on her government responsibilities while deciding whether prosecutor Álvaro García Ortiz had leaked to the press the message in which her boyfriend’s lawyer acknowledged two tax crimes against the public treasury, according to those around her. However, he found it impossible to ignore the most high-profile trial taking place at the Supreme Court in recent years, with appearances broadcast across Spain.
The opposition to his government has placed several questions on the agenda on general topics, among which the issue of screening stands out. The Madrid Department of Health has acknowledged an error in sending letters to 571 patients who were notified of false negatives in colon cancer screening. The Health Authority maintains that there was no diagnostic error and that “the correct results” were always recorded in the patients’ medical records. Since the error was discovered, the administration has contacted each of these patients by phone, text or through primary care providers. According to this information, the matter was resolved within a week.
Now it’s time to know what Ayuso says about this. Attention, however, will once again be on Ayuso’s partner, Alberto González Amador. In the previous plenary session the opposition addressed him in very harsh terms. Socialist spokesperson Mar Espinar said he was a “tax fraud enthusiast”, while Manuela Bergerot, of Más Madrid, told him “not to run away” because of the open cases for these crimes. The president responded by referring to cases of corruption plaguing the government, such as those of José Luis Ábalos or Santos Cerdán, the latter behind bars.
