Morocco’s Anti-Corruption Hotline Leads to Arrest of Three Government Officials

An initial official complaint was filed with the Presidency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rabat on Wednesday morning, via the toll-free number. It is a farmer from a rural commune in Kelâa des Sraghna, who denounced a caïd who would have demanded the sum of 1,200 DH, in exchange for obtaining a simple permit to exploit an agricultural plot of which he is the owner.

The administration, in view of the denunciations, remains overwhelmed by a corruption that does not say its name, and which has spread nationwide. Obtaining simple documents becomes an ideal opportunity to blackmail and hope for bribes. Faced with blackmail, the farmer denounced the details of the attempted extortion of which he was a victim.

The Presidency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has shown speed in processing his complaint, by transmitting it to the public prosecutor’s office, which in turn submitted it to the Attorney General of the Court of First Instance in Marrakech. He will finally be caught in the act of corruption; which led him to Marrakech to appear before the King’s Prosecutor, who immediately sent him to the Oudaya prison, pending referral to the court.

The toll-free number allowed a second arrest the same week. In El Jadida, two people confirm having been subjected to the blackmail of two law enforcement officers operating at the level of a district in the city center. They forced them to pay a 200 DH bill, in exchange for an administrative document. The two individuals await their appearance before the justice system.

The direct telephone line dedicated to the denunciation of acts of corruption already has more than a hundred arrests to its credit, including several civil servants, elected officials, and even law enforcement officers.