FIFA World Cup Ticket Scandal Widens: More Moroccan Officials Under Investigation

The "2022 World Cup ticket scandal" has not finished revealing its secrets. Bank transfers and audio recordings lead investigators on the trail of other people who would also have resold on the black market thousands of tickets intended to be distributed free of charge to Moroccan supporters of the Atlas Lions at the World Cup in Qatar at exorbitant prices, reports the Arabic daily Al Akhbar. The National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) will thus be responsible for questioning the suspects who received money transfers made to their bank accounts by a group of supporters of the national football team.

They will also be heard on WhatsApp audio recordings as well as telephone conversations they had with national team supporters who bought the stadium access tickets. Among these suspects are football club presidents, including a federal member as well as a radio host who was part of the delegation of journalists present in Qatar. The supporters who transferred money to the suspects’ accounts will also be heard by the BNPJ.

Following the outbreak of this affair, several people had been arrested, prosecuted and then convicted by the court of first instance of Ain Sebaa. Prosecuted for the charges of attempted fraud, participation and unauthorized sale of tickets, the president of Olympique de Safi - also a deputy - had received respectively a sentence of 18 months in prison and a fine of 2,000 dirhams, and 10 months in prison and a fine of 1,000 dirhams. They should all appeal.