MADRID, May 25 (Reuters) - Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of no confidence over a graft case involving members of his People's Party (PP) in which a High Court judge also questioned the credibility of his testimony as a witness last year. While far-left party Podemos has already called for a no-confidence vote, the motion will need the unlikely support of centrist party Ciudadanos, Rajoy's allies in parliament, or that of several tiny regional parties, including Catalan separatist parties. Rajoy, became the first sitting prime minister in Spain to give evidence in a trial when he was called as a witness in the case last year, prompting calls for him to resign. The court sentenced 29 people in jail for a total of 351 years for corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the so-called Gurtel trial, named after the code name of the police investigation. In some of the most damaging parts of the ruling, the judges also said that PP ran a slush fund at least until 2008 and questioned the credibility of Rajoy when he denied knowing that the scheme was in place during a court hearing where the prime minister testified as a witness.
The opposition Socialist Workers' Party presents a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy following the publication of the sentence in the Gürtel corruption scandal, which involved the ruling PP.