Ayuso, partner and €2M in mask commissions

€2M in mask commissions surround Ayuso

€2M in commissions for mask intermediation. The figure, fee, and Madrid’s president surname fit in one sentence, yet the first question is accounting: who signed the contracts? The answer that repeats itself troubles the central government. The bulk of the business was closed, according to Ayuso’s defenders, with the Ministry of Health led by Salvador Illa, not the Madrid administration.

Who truly paid for the masks

The numbers clash with the narrative of a purely Madrid windfall. According to cited documents, one involved firm billed less than €1M in 2018, with a profit of just €69,000, then received €263.1M in 2020 via direct ELbichito-19 awards. That is the real jump. The intermediary earned his commission when the business surged, not before.

The repeated detail: one private (Catalan) firm later signed a €243M contract with Illa’s ministry. An agreement that, in this reading, placed masks well above market price. Supporters argue commissions were legal, agreed between private companies, without public money in the original deal.

When did the relationship with Ayuso begin?

According to these accounts, the link did not yet exist when these operations closed; they may not have even known each other. Hence, demanding the president explain a private citizen’s activity with someone she had no relationship with is seen as disproportionate. “If Ayuso must explain a citizen’s activity whose government didn’t benefit just because he’s her boyfriend...”, one widespread reply mocked.

What is actually accused: Tax authorities, not the commission

Two things must be separated. The commission itself isn’t the target: the reproach is that the firm didn’t declare this money to tax authorities, a fiscal matter involving invoices and evading the Tax Agency. This episode may have occurred after the relationship and contracts. The key term marking the narrative is the tax deal to avoid trouble.

On the other side, Ayuso’s defenders argue it’s scandalous that the Tax Agency targets opponents. The fiscal revelation, they note, came not from journalism but from a biased leak by government sources.

The counterattack: Ábalos, Koldo, and the spokesperson minister’s husband

No piece makes sense without the playing field. As Ayuso’s name surfaced, it was revealed that the spokesperson minister’s husband mediated in a €1.2B renewable subsidy to a clean energy firm. With Ábalos and the Koldo case in the background, the exchange of blows is total. “And you more,” summarizes half the conversation. The other half replies with the classic argument: two corruptions don’t cancel each other out.

That’s the knot. Each side points to the other’s beam in the eye, refusing to look at their own. Data shows both sides have material: mask commissions on one side, suspicious subsidies and contracts on the other. Neither renounces their narrative because doing so would admit half the case.

The real cost for Ayuso: from the penthouse to the Maserati

Beyond politics, personal damage enters the analysis. A penthouse in a lawyer’s name used by the couple is mentioned, along with a company named Maxwell Cremona, engineering and environment, and a diesel Maserati. These details aren’t crimes but fuel suspicion about the origin of their wealth.

It’s not just economics. Scrutiny reaches the president’s private life with a harshness some see as a red line: her family plans, according to one participant, turned into political ammunition. Here, the case stops being merely accounting.

Has she really been ruined?

The provisional answer is no, at least not via this path. Ayuso’s career doesn’t collapse over a matter that, so far, doesn’t directly implicate her. What changes is the climate: she enters any conversation labeled suspicious, and her party pays the cost of defending the indefensible without conclusive evidence.

Almost no one expects real consequences. This country has seen cases dissolve for decades through appeals, deadlines, and procedural twists; rarely is the politician truly broken. Ayuso remains an enemy to some and hope to others. The case, meanwhile, remains without a judge to close it.