Marrakech Casino Scandal: Top Officials Arrested and Face Imprisonment

Abdelatif Abdouh is no longer free to move around. He surrendered to the judicial police services of Marrakech after going into hiding. The judicial police services of the city of Marrakech arrested adviser Abdelaziz M., Mohamed H., former municipal councilor and deputy mayor of the city, was, for his part, arrested at his home located in Douar El Koudia in Guéliz. These arrests follow the decision of the Court of Cassation to reject their appeal against the decision of the criminal chamber of appeal of the Court of Appeal of Marrakech, in charge of financial crimes.

In a post on his Facebook page, Mohamed El Ghalloussi, president of the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Public Property, confirmed on Monday that the Attorney General of the King at the Court of Appeal of Marrakech had received this decision from the Court of Cassation. According to him, his association played an essential role in the triggering of the Saâdi Casino case. This file constitutes "an important and positive indicator of the attitude of the judiciary in the face of cases of corruption and embezzlement of public funds, because we have noted a relative evolution of the judgments in this type of case in favor of the realization of a specific and general deterrence," he stressed.

To recall, the criminal chamber had confirmed the decision of the first instance criminal chamber. The latter had sentenced the defendants to prison terms for embezzlement and theft of public funds, forgery of documents and corruption. The former mayor of Gueliz, Abdelatif Abdouh, the main defendant in the case, had been sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison, by the first instance criminal chamber of the Court of Appeal of Marrakech. He had also been fined 50,000 dirhams in favor of the Treasury. Justice had also confiscated apartments he owns to assign them to the State. However, the elected official was acquitted of the charges of influence peddling and embezzlement of public funds in the case of the Sidi Abad 5 subdivision and the restaurant.

Abdouh was prosecuted with seven municipal councilors and three entrepreneurs on bail, for charges of "corruption, influence peddling, embezzlement of public funds, forgery of documents and official papers, their use and complicity" in these acts.

The first instance criminal chamber of the Court of Appeal of Marrakech sentenced seven municipal councilors of Marrakech to three years in prison. Each of them was also fined 40,000 dirhams. The entrepreneur Abdelghani M. was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 dirhams.