Moroccan Council to Sue Spanish Newspaper Over Embezzlement Allegations

In a statement, the CCME declares: "We regret that the author of the article has, in bad faith, distorted the founding text of the institution by referring to a supposed mission that would fall to the Council [to oversee the money sent by Morocco to its communities in Europe]".

According to the article in El Mundo, three Moroccan officials would be involved in embezzlement of funds sent by Morocco to fight radicalization in Spain.

Expelled from Spanish territory in 2013 for "promotion of Salafism", Noureddine Ziane had created, in 2010, the Union of Islamic Cultural Centers of Catalonia, in charge of coordinating 70 mosques in the region. This body benefits from financial support from the Moroccan state, estimated at two million euros. According to the Spanish daily, these funds end up in the bank accounts of Ziane and his wife, Atiqa Bouhouria Meliani.

In 2013, a travel agency, Aya Travel, was created in Mataro, near Barcelona, by Atiqa Bouhouria and Naima Lamalmi, wife of the DGED official in charge of the control of mosques and imams in countries like Spain and in charge of sending agents abroad. Another co-founder of the company is Naziha El Montaser, wife of the CCME Secretary General, Abdallah Boussouf.

In parallel, Noureddine Ziane, Abdallah Boussouf and the DGED official, Mohamed Belahrech, founded another tourism agency in Rabat. It is called Élysée Travel. According to a Spanish judicial source cited by El Mundo, "these are all front companies used to divert and launder the money entrusted to the UCICC by the Ministry of Religious Affairs".

According to the daily, several bank documents testify to the transfers made between Ziani, his wife and the Aya Travel agency. "Transfers were made between the bank accounts of Ziani, his wife and the Aya Travel agency. Part of the amount was then transferred to the Rabat agency," the daily adds.

Mimon Jalich, Noureddine Ziane’s replacement at the UCICC, conducted an audit of the Union between 2012 and 2015. This revealed that the use of the funds received from Morocco was not in compliance with the statutes of the UCICC. Several transfers without supporting documents were made from the Union’s account to Ziani’s between 2011 and 2013.

According to Jalich, "they could hardly justify anything [...]. Atika [Bouhouria, Ziane’s wife] presented false receipts. For example, she exhibited one issued for an Arabic course that would have been given on February 31, a day that does not exist on the calendar".