Moroccan Lawmaker Faces Arrest Warrant in Public Funds Misappropriation Case

Deputy Abdenbi El Aidoudi seems to be fleeing justice, which is looking for him in a case of misappropriation of public funds. The elected official was absent from the previous hearing before the Financial Crimes Chamber of the Rabat Court of Appeal, reports Assabah. According to his lawyer, this absence is due to his participation in a session of the Provincial Council of Sidi Kacem, of which he is a member. The Court had to postpone the hearing to last Monday.

At this hearing, the opposing party proved to the court that the reason for the absence was false by presenting the judge with the list of members present at the extraordinary session of the Provincial Council of Sidi Kacem. The court considered the attitude of Deputy Abdenbi El Aidoudi as a denial of justice. Consequently, an arrest warrant was issued against the elected official. The court also asked the SNRT to broadcast this decision on the national radio airwaves. It also ordered to notify the State Property Department, which will have to seize the real estate assets of the defendant throughout the duration of this trial in absentia.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 14. Seven former members of the El Haouafat Commune Council, which Abdenbi El Aidoudi chaired, had filed a complaint against the elected official, accusing him of violating the rules for awarding public contracts in two commune projects, in particular the non-compliance of the work carried out with the specifications and the non-participation of the technical services and the ONEE in the monitoring of the work.

These accusations were rejected by Abdenbi El Aidoudi. The elected official explained that the first contract had been the subject of an audit by the Court of Auditors which had not issued any observations on this file, and that all the conditions of the specifications, as well as the legal procedures related thereto, had been respected in the award of the second one relating to liquid sanitation.