Morocco Cracks Down on Money Laundering: Prosecutors Ordered to Enforce Strict Guidelines

Due to the unfavorable 2020 report on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, the presidency has called on the public prosecutors to strictly comply with the November 2019 circular. Thus, more than a year after the publication of this circular, its application varied from one public prosecutor’s office to another. As a result, some public prosecutors did not send copies of the procedures carried out in money laundering and terrorist financing cases to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rabat, especially if they involved elements on the suspicion of financial crimes or when seizing fraudulent proceeds or large sums of money or cross-border crimes.

Moreover, out of all the public prosecutors’ offices, only 10 from appeal courts have conducted investigations in this regard, while 11 have not. In addition, only three public prosecutors’ offices have sent requests for information to the Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (UTRF), not to mention that several public prosecutors’ offices do not implement international cooperation procedures and just conduct investigations within the national territory, even though some cases involve foreigners or capital and persons residing abroad.

Since all these shortcomings or failures are hampering Morocco’s exit from the FATF gray list, the Presidency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is urging all public prosecutors to strictly comply with the 2019 circular related to money laundering, in order to allow the kingdom to restore its image.