Moroccan Lawyer Sentenced to 5 Years for Fraud and Corruption in High-Profile Case

The lawyer, as well as his two accomplices (a former Royal Navy officer and a businesswoman), were prosecuted for "fraud, corruption, identity theft and alleged mediation in a legal case before the courts," reports the daily Al Akhbar.

The case came to light after two young people convicted by the Tangier court to five years in prison for "forming a criminal gang, fraud and theft" claimed that the former Royal Navy officer had promised their families to get them out of prison in exchange for a sum of 450,000 dirhams each.

A meeting was organized in Rabat with the families, attended by the lawyer and the businesswoman who was posing as the wife of a senior territorial administration official and claiming to have connections with the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ). The families eventually paid the requested amount for the release of the two young people.

Having then realized the deception, they filed a complaint with the president of the CSPJ and the Rabat Bar Association. After investigation, the Rabat Court of First Instance sentenced the lawyer to five years in prison and each of his two accomplices to three years in criminal detention. A sentence that was confirmed on Wednesday by the Rabat Court of Appeal.