The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, distances herself from the previous regional presidents of her party, at least in court. The Community of Madrid, governed by the PP, requests 16 years in prison for former Madrid president Ignacio González for the piece of the Lezo case of corruption on irregularities in the construction of a golf course on the land of the public water company Canal of Elizabeth II. It is the request for the highest sentence of the five accusations presented, according to the oral trial opening order notified this Friday by the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office demands six years for González, as well as for the other four accused: Ildefonso de Miguel, manager of the public company Canal de Isabel II and González's most trusted man; José Antonio Clemente, Pablo Manuel González and Juan José Caballero. The last two are, respectively, the brother and brother-in-law of the former popular leader. The Madrid City Council, also governed by the popular, has adhered to the request of the Prosecutor's Office, while the PSOE claims 10 years for González and the CCOO union of Madrid, eight. This piece has investigated the allegedly irregular award, in 2004 and 2006, of two contracts for the construction and maintenance of the Canal de Isabel II golf course, in the capital, which allowed the plot allegedly headed by the former president to pocket more than half a million euros.

The difference in sentences is the result of the different qualification of the facts made by each of the accusations. Thus, the legal representatives of the Community of Madrid consider González and the other four accused authors of the crimes of fraud against public administrations, embezzlement of funds and bribery. Anti-corruption, however, only accuses them of two crimes of bribery, such as the Madrid Consistory and CCOO, while the PSOE charges them with influence peddling with bribery, administrative prevarication and fraud.

After the order to open the oral trial of Judge García-Castellón, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court will have to set a date in sight for the fixing of the golf course, which is added to two other pieces of the Lezo case already concluded and awaiting trial. One is the one referring to the purchase of the Brazilian company Emissão by Canal de Isabel II in 2013, for which González faces a request from the prosecutor for eight years in prison. The second is the alleged irregular award, in 2007, to the OHL company of the public works of the train to Navalcarnero, in which Anticorruption asks for four years in prison for the former president.

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The order of the judge known yesterday describes the operation of the plot, at the top of which was presumably González, who in those years presided over the board of directors of Canal de Isabel II in his capacity as vice president of the Community, a position he held from 2003 to 2012, when he assumed the presidency of the regional Executive after the departure of Esperanza Aguirre. Next to him, the account of the events places Ildefonso de Miguel, manager of Canal de Isabel II. According to the Prosecutor's Office in its indictment, both took advantage of "the organic and functional pre-eminence of their positions" to irregularly promote substantial changes in the tenders and agree with the winning company the subcontracting of Tecnoconcret Proyectos de Ingeniería, SL, among whose partners were the brother and brother-in-law of the former president.

The first of the allegedly rigged contracts was the one awarded to the construction company Dragados for the "consolidation, waterproofing and landscaping" of the land where the golf course was to be installed. In 2004, a year after the concession, the plot modified the project and, instead of calling a new tender as required by law, agreed with the construction company to order the new works in exchange for subcontracting a part, valued at more than three million euros, to the company of González's brother and brother-in-law despite the fact that it did not have the capacity to carry them out. In fact, Tecnoconcret in turn subcontracted those works to two other companies (Onlygolf and Fieldturf Spain), to which it allegedly charged a commission of 8%, thus allegedly obtaining a profit of 381,029 euros.

The second suspected contract awarded, for a period of five years, the management and operation of the golf course facilities. Canal de Isabel II awarded it, in 2006, to a temporary union of companies (UTE) that included Tecnoconcret and a Dragados company. After the award, the companies of the UTE created the firm Green Canal Golf, which subcontracted the maintenance of the lawn of the sports facility to Tecnoconcret for a monthly amount of 9,875 euros. This, which also lacked the capacity to carry out this work, in turn subcontracted it to Onlygolf for 7,941 euros per month. In this way, the company of González's relatives achieved, through its mere intermediation, an approximate profit of 20%. In total, 123,752 euros.