Madrid City Council's '11 Estimate That Land Was Worth €22M To Be Investigated By EC

The European Commission "is investigating whether the Madrid City Council did Real Madrid a favor" in '11 by valuing at €22M a piece of land that was valued at €595,000 13 years earlier, according to Luis Doncel of EL PAIS. After Real Madrid bought the land from Madrid in '98, the club received €22M when the land was "taken back into the control of the council" in '11. Did the "City Council do Real Madrid a favor?" This is one of the "questions the EC will address after announcing that it will look into the case." The EC "will address this as one aspect of a recently announced investigation into the finances of seven Spanish football clubs." Where the "European authorities are focusing their attention is on the system the Madrid City Council used in '11 to value the land." There are "serious doubts regarding the notable increase in the value of the land." The figures "indicate that either the price agreed upon in '98 was very low or that what was determined in '11 was very high" (EL PAIS, 12/17).