Alleged Scammers Face Appeal in Moroccan Royal Family Impersonation Case

On Wednesday, Ahmed, the former police officer, 54, sentenced to eighteen months in prison and probation for two years for abuse of weakness, and Choukri, the former actor, 62, were tried on appeal for abuse of weakness. "As in the first instance, the public prosecutor’s office is asking the Versailles Court of Appeal to convict the two defendants," reports Le Parisien. He is demanding eighteen months in prison for Ahmed, with probation, and the reimbursement of some 120,000 euros spent by the victim, H. B., plus 30,000 euros for his moral prejudice. He is requesting one year in prison with a suspended sentence for Choukri.

The winegrower’s wish is to see the two defendants behind bars. "I was manipulated and swindled for years, it’s madness! They took me for a fool. All these people, they have to go to prison. The French justice system must do its job," he blurts out before the Court. But the defendants, unemployed today, reject the accusations of abuse of weakness. "I would like it to stop, I can’t take it anymore. It’s not part of my morals, nor of my education to dispossess someone," Choukri says from the stand. He owned a production company at the time of the facts.

"For me, H.B. was a rather eccentric businessman, he said he knew the King of Morocco, I had no reason to doubt his word," the former actor still defends himself. Ahmed, the former police officer dismissed following the IGPN investigation, was absent from the trial because he was hospitalized. The verdict is expected on June 4.