Overview
- Judge José Luis Calama grouped eight separate popular accusations in the Plus Ultra case and appointed the Partido Popular to exercise unified legal direction for those accusers.
- The judge said the PP showed the strongest institutional representativity and that its personation met legal requirements while Vox’s initial filing lacked the required apoderamiento.
- The probe examines an alleged influence-for-aid scheme to secure a €53 million public support package for Plus Ultra in 2021, and the judge placed former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the centre of the investigation.
- Zapatero has been cited as investigado with hearings scheduled for 17–18 June, and the decision to centralize representation follows a Supreme Court practice used in the Ábalos mascarillas case.
- Consolidating the accusations under the PP concentrates courtroom strategy and public profile of the case, shapes who speaks for the private accusers at hearings, and could affect how evidence and questioning are presented in the coming weeks.