Moroccan Audit Court Reveals $2 Million Misuse of Public Funds by Political Parties

The scandal of public funds embezzled by some political leaders is resurfacing. Twenty political parties, in fact, persist in not returning a total of twenty million dirhams, granted by the State to political parties, for the year 2017-2018. This is a denunciation made by the Court of Accounts, chaired by Driss Jettou, and relayed by Assabah and Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

Indeed, according to the report on the audit of the accounts of political parties just published by the Court of Accounts, the State subsidy represents a rate of 54.90% of the total amount of resources. The envelope granted to political parties for 2018 amounts to 66.10 million dirhams against 73.73 million in 2017 and 62.74 million in 2016.

In total, 31 political parties out of 34 filed their accounts with the Court, according to its president. The Parti Marocain Libre, the Union Marocaine pour la Démocratie and the Union Nationale des Forces Populaires were absent from this jurisdiction. These were the aids granted by the State for the proper functioning of political parties. Of the whole, 6 formations returned more than 7 million dirhams in 2018, and 9 others for 7 million dirhams in 2019.

Only 23 formations have provided certified accounting. In addition, the 2018 state budget allocated 80 million dirhams as support granted by the State, to cover the management costs of political parties and the costs of organizing their ordinary national congresses.