Marrakech Mayor Skips Trial for COP22 Corruption Charges, Court Postpones to October

Mayor Mohamed Larbi Belcaïd, his first deputy Younes Benslimane and the legal representative of the local authorities were conspicuous by their absence at the fifth session of their trial, reports Barlamane. Only Abdelilah Tatouch, president of the National Council of the Moroccan Association for the Defense of Human Rights, was present at the hearing as a civil party. The court therefore postponed the trial to October 13, in order to summon the other parties involved in this trial.

The PJD mayor and his first vice-president are accused of having diverted public funds and signed direct contracts worth 280 million dirhams without having the capacity to do so, in the context 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 placed under their responsibility by virtue of the nature of their function" and the "exercise of a regulated function without fulfilling the necessary conditions". An additional charge is brought against Younes Benslimane, the mayor’s deputy. It is "embezzlement 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.