SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy is due to testify in court tomorrow (Wednesday) morning as a witness as part of the long-running Gürtel corruption racket.
So far, 312 reporters, camera crew and photographers from 83 media channels, of which 21 are based in other countries, have managed to obtain press passes to cover the hearing live.
French, German, Russian, Mexican and Colombian media are among the foreign press-pass holders.
The National Court says 14 mobile TV and radio units will be parked on site, and 150 of the journalists, film crew and photographers have been given permission to enter the building.
Of these, 120 will follow the hearing from the press room and another 30 will get the one-off chance to access the courtroom and witness the proceedings live.
The right-wing PP leader will be surrounded by watertight security measures including armed police and bodyguards when he arrives at the court on the industrial estate in San Fernando de Henares in the Greater Madrid region ready to give his version of events and stand for cross-examining from 10.00.
Rajoy will be interrogated by the anti-corruption prosecution and the various parties which have brought a private prosecution against those accused in the Gürtel scandal.
Complainants include the State Law Service, Madrid city council, Madrid regional government, the socialist party in Valencia and in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) and the anti-corruption legal society, the Association of Democratic Lawyers in Europe (ADADE), although it is possible not all these bodies will wish to cross-examine the witness.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com