The College of Architects of Madrid denounces five former managers for the irregular sale of a property

The Official College of Architects of Madrid faces one of the biggest crises in its history between resignations and a lawsuit against five members of the Governing Board that led the institution between 2011 and 2015 for an alleged embezzlement in the sale of a building of the Foundation of the College in Piedmont Street.

The dean of the architects of Madrid, Belén Hermida, assured this Friday at a press conference that she arrived at the institution with the sole objective of "modernizing it" and that within her work she has found "serious irregularities" from the time of Dean José Antonio Granero, "who have put at risk the credibility of the College."

Among these irregularities is "a customer network" that, apart from favoring the environment of the Governing Board, "left in the background the defense and representation of architects."

According to Hermida, the result of his team's work to open the windows of the College has been the demand for embezzlement against five members of the Governing Board that sold a Foundation building for 500,000 euros less (it was sold for 3.5 million euros in instead of 4) of what was required by the Board of Foundations of the Ministry of Culture.

According to Hermida's investigation, members of the Barn team allegedly falsified the documentation to make it appear that the Protectorate of the Foundation had authorized it, when it was not.

According to the same sources, Manuel Leira, son of former mayor Manuela Carmena , was a member member of the Barn Government Board and at the same time patron of the Foundation and, along with the majority of the board, agreed to sell that building to that price. However, Leira is not among the defendants.

Hermida called a press conference this Friday afternoon after it was known that three members of his Government Board - out of a total of nine - presented their resignation in the morning for disagreements with her.

According to Hermida, he is living a "smear" campaign in the last hours because of the measures taken. "People related to those charges have launched a smear campaign against this dean as a result of the actions taken , " he said. "They are not going to stop us," said the dean, adding that they have also found irregularities in the school's competitions office and that is why they have proceeded to "reorganize it after receiving several complaints."

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