Moroccan Judge Faces Up to 20 Years for Alleged Corruption in High-Profile Trial

Based on Article 241 of the Penal Code which stipulates: "any magistrate, any public official who embezzles, dissipates, unduly retains or removes public or private funds, securities in lieu thereof or documents, titles, acts, movable effects which were in his hands, either by virtue or by reason of his functions, is punished by imprisonment from five to twenty years and a fine of 5,000 to 100,000 dirhams," the investigating judge referred the case of the Beni Mellal judge and his accomplice to the criminal chamber in charge of financial crimes, reports the Arabic daily Assabah.

The facts took place in July 2021. An individual acting as an intermediary contacted the families of three people charged in a criminal case and who were sentenced to five years in prison, promising to intervene to reduce their prison sentences. A meeting will be held between the families, the Beni Mellal judge in charge of the case at the intermediary’s home. The magistrate demanded 120,000 dirhams, a sum that the families must pay the day before the hearing.

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The families were only able to raise 90,000 dirhams. The intermediary reminds them that they must mobilize 120,000 dirhams. For his part, the judge first threatened to increase the sentence to 10 years in prison, before deciding to postpone the hearing to the following week, in order to allow the families to raise the agreed amount. Annoyed, the mother of one of the accused brings the case before the National Brigade of the Judicial Police. Trapped, the judge and the intermediary will thus be arrested in the act.