On April 27, ARGIA called the PP headquarters in Vitoria and spoke with the party’s communications officer. The head of communication sent to ARGIA the explanations Antépa has given to the party, presumably innocent of the PP politician. Two are the main arguments.

On the one hand, the PP and Antépa state that the responsibility of the three dossiers opened to the company Luxury is exclusive to the City Council, as the corresponding department has communicated “bad” all the notifications (The falsehood of this statement will be dealt with in a next article accompanied by documents and testimonies from the staff of the municipal department that has opened the dossiers).

On the other hand, the PP says that Antépa’s only connection to Luxury is “several participations”. Contrary to the information disseminated by ARGIA, the communications officer said that Antépara has not been president of the Luxury company and has never been. In addition, he said that Antépa did not leave the sole manager of the company in July 2022, as ARGIA published, but in 2019 (i.e. before Luxury made “clandestine works” and started the illegal exploitation of several apartments as tourist homes). He explained to ARGIA that he has two documents that prove it and showed his willingness to prove them. ARGIA saw these documents on May 3 at the PP headquarters in Vitoria. By then, the PP showed Vitoria-Gasteiz its interest in at least these documents, and the digital media referred to the information of ARGIA and PP documents.

PP and Antépa documents

The PP has submitted two papers to ARGIA (without authorization to make copies or make photographs). On the one hand, the one dated July 1, 2019, by notary Ángel Fernández-Reyes. The letter refers to the cessation of the previously single administrator (Gustavo Antéa) and the appointment of the new administrator (Pilar Perosanz, President of Arabatur). According to the Communication Officer, although the statement was made in 2019, it was not filed in the commercial register until October 2022. The PP has not explained the cause of the delay of three years.

The second document would be the filing of the 2019 document in the commercial register in 2022. Contrary to what the PP said, this second document is not related to the 2019 document, but refers to another notary and specifies that the change of Luxury administrator was agreed at a general meeting on July 1, 2022, as ARGIA published. ARGIA can certify that the 2019 notary’s letter has never been registered in the commercial register.

ARGIA documents

ARGIA has obtained the memory of the commercial registration of the company Luxury, which is public, and completely denies the claims of the PP. According to the documents of the Registry, Antépara has been the only administrator of the company since its creation in the 2000s, a responsibility that was removed from Antépa and that was placed in the hands of Pilar Perosanz by the General Assembly of Luxury on 1 July 2022, and that registered its decision on 17 October of the same year in notary María Concepción Granado (see photo document that opens the news).

The record coincides with the second document presented by the PP, which annuls the value of the first. ARGIA asks notary Ángel Reyes Fernández to see that 2019 document or to confirm that it exists if he does not see it. The notary explains that the data protection law does not allow it, but even if the document had been registered in 2019, it would have no value if it has not been filed in the commercial register and there is no record of it.

There's a second document that shows falsehood. In May 2020, according to the PP, one year after the end of Antépa as administrator, the company changed its name and its social object to take the name of Luxury it currently maintains, an agreement signed by Gustavo Antépa “acting on behalf and representation of the Society as Sole Administrator of the Society” (see document below).

Finally, in response to the ARGIA question, the PP has assured that Antépara is not the president of Luxury and has never been. In March 2023, Luxury presents the accounts for the years 2020 and 2021 in the commercial register. One of the certificates states that “from the Company’s record book, under my legal responsibility, it follows that 1.- on 30 June 2022 the Ordinary General Assembly of the Company met (...) 3.- The following agreements were unanimously adopted: (a) to appoint Gustavo Antépara Benito as president and secretary to Pilar Perosanz Lozano”. The certificate, dated February 2023, is signed by Pilar Perosanz (see document below). In short, Antéa was appointed President of Luxury on June 30, 2022, and one day later he left the post of single administrator that occupied Pilar Perosanz.

PP continues to support Antéa over tests

All these documents were submitted on paper by ARGIA to the PP communication officer on May 3, who stated that he should “contrast” the information. ARGIA explained that in the coming days it would publish that information in its possession, and that if within two days the PP did not send ARGIA another position, it would understand that the party continues to give its approval to the arguments and documents provided by Antépa. The PP has not contacted ARGIA since then.

This does not assess PP

Some of the information published by ARGIA has been false by PP and Antépa. However, they have not made any statement on the most important aspects.

ARGIA repeatedly asks the PP whether Antépa has explained the unoccupied party to exploit several homes as tourist apartments without the required license. “We’re not going to value it,” said the communications officer.

ARGIA asked if the PP does not see a conflict of interests in the activity of Antépa: it is part of the board of directors of the Ensanche 21 as representative of the PP (where the main urban decisions of Vitoria are made); it works as a lobby to modify the regulations of tourist housing through the Arabatur association; the company president illegally exploits tourist homes. “We don’t value it,” he replied.

Finally, ARGIA asked whether the PP has considered the possibility of removing the Antéa from the Ensanche 21, or excluding it from the lists of the May elections, which occupies the seventh place in Vitoria, the fifteenth in Álava. The PP communication officer replied no.