Corruption Crackdown: Moroccan Officials Face Trial for Public Fund Misuse

These prosecutions follow complaints filed against them with the competent public prosecutor’s office on the basis of reports issued by the Regional Audit Offices and the commissions of the General Inspectorate of Territorial Administration. Current presidents and former officials are targeted, some of whom have already been subject to dismissal decisions by the administrative courts. The financial cases for which these officials are being prosecuted date back several years, some dating back to 2009. The initiative is part of an accountability process. Their trial before the chamber in charge of "financial crimes" should start from mid-September, according to Hespress.

One of the cases concerns the president of a municipality in the province of Berrechid, in the outskirts of Casablanca, whose candidacy legality has been challenged by a political opponent, as his current term is coming to an end. Governors and provincial officials, some of whom have been recently appointed, have submitted reports to the central administration in response to requests for explanation addressed by the inspectors of the Ministry of the Interior during their audits of municipal services.

The reports of the inspection commissions of the Ministry of the Interior and the Regional Audit Offices, transmitted to the justice system, establish the responsibility of several of these elected officials in irregularities related to the management of local revenues, in particular the tax on undeveloped urban land, commercial, industrial and professional authorizations, as well as offenses in the field of urban planning. These documents also shed light on the complicity between certain accused and private companies that have won public contracts in a restricted geographical area. The analysis of purchase orders and public contracts has revealed the presence of suspicious clauses aimed at favoring these companies.