Corruption Network Exposed in Moroccan City During Public Space Cleanup

The campaign to free the public space is at the origin of the discovery of a network mired in corruption. This discovery follows the arrest of twelve people who showed resistance at the beginning of the operation, reports the daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

Faced with this situation, Nejmeddine Abidi, the pacha of the city of Tiznit, decided to do thorough work on all the occupants of the public space. This allowed him to discover that some "ferrachas" were operating on the city’s boulevards.

They benefited from the cover of notables, sedentary merchants and law enforcement officers.

More seriously, some officials used their power to "recruit" young people to whom they gave a cart. These handed them a monthly "rent" in return.

In this regard, a joint commission has been set up to investigate these facts. The investigations revealed that many merchants were illegally occupying the public space without paying the relevant taxes since 2009.

Auxiliaries and law enforcement officers are also involved in the illegal occupation of public space. They rent it out in exchange for "financial envelopes" at the end of each month.