Former Marrakech Mayor and Deputy Face New Money Laundering Charges in Public Funds Case

Mohamed Larbi Belcaid and Younes Benslimane have seen the charges against them lengthened. The public prosecutor has decided to prosecute them for "money laundering". A first hearing was held last week, during which the court, based on a report from the regional judicial police brigade in the context of a complaint from a human rights defense organization against the former mayor and his deputy concerning the accommodation agreements in Marrakech during COP22, decided to postpone the case to grant a deadline to the defense at its request, said a source close to the case to the newspaper Al-Omk. Another hearing is therefore scheduled for June 23.

Larbi Belcaid and his first vice-president, Younes Benslimane, are accused of having signed negotiated contracts worth 280 million dirhams without having the capacity to do so, as part of the organization of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) in the ochre city in 2016. They are being prosecuted for "misappropriation of public funds under their responsibility by virtue of the nature of their function", "exercise of a regulated function without meeting the necessary conditions" and "misappropriation of public funds". A complaint from the Moroccan Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ADMH) is at the origin of the outbreak of this case.