Moroccan Socialist Party Official Jailed for 3 Years in Public Funds Embezzlement Case

Abdessamed Khannani is accused of having improperly exempted citizens from paying the tax on unbuilt land, seized communal lands that were reserved for the construction of a sports complex in Boujniba to turn them into subdivisions that he shared with his associates, reports Al Akhbar. The Court of Auditors had also noted dysfunctions in the file of the renovation of the city’s slaughterhouse.

The mayor of Boujniba (Khouribga) had been questioned and interrogated by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) following suspicions of irregularities. The Moroccan Association for the Protection of Public Money has joined as a civil party, and its lawyer has filed a request with the court to seize all the real estate and movable property of the accused in accordance with the circular issued on December 13, 2019 by the President of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Through this circular, prosecutors general and prosecutors in the courts of first instance are asked to apply this law rigorously and firmly.

The trial opened before the financial crimes chamber of the Casablanca Court of Appeal, but Abdessamed Khannani was conspicuous by his absence on nine occasions. On Monday, the verdict was handed down: the PPS elected official was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 40,000 DH.