Moroccan MPs Continue Receiving Salaries While Imprisoned for Corruption

Allowances of around 36,000 dirhams continue to be paid monthly to deputies who are serving prison sentences. They are directly transferred to the accounts of the latter, reports the daily Assabah.

Among the imprisoned deputies who continue to receive these allowances are Rachid El Fayek of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), in detention for "embezzlement of public funds, corruption, forgery and use of forgeries, falsification of official documents, multiple violations of the urban planning code and abuse of power," and deputy Babour Sghir of the Constitutional Union (UC), in detention for "fraud, corruption and embezzlement of no less than 240 million dirhams," according to the newspaper’s sources.

Other deputies prosecuted while on provisional release on bail are also affected. The committee responsible for reforming the internal regulations of the first Chamber has opted for a "suspension of the allowances of deputies sentenced to one year, even at first instance," especially since detention does not automatically lead to conviction.