Morocco Launches Probe into Civil Servants’ Misuse of Government Toll Pass System

Identify any abusive use of the "Jawaz" system by civil servants, particularly outside their working hours and for personal purposes, especially during vacations. This is the objective of the investigation launched by the General Inspection of Territorial Administration (IGAT). It was found that some agents had removed this device from their service vehicles to install it on their personal vehicles, which allows them to finance their trips between different cities, reports Maroc Diplomatique. A maneuver that penalizes the State, as this device is included in the operating costs of service vehicles, alongside fuel and other expenses.

The inspectors in charge of this investigation also analyzed the vehicle use registers in the public administrations and noted inconsistencies, in particular the absence of dating and recording for the use of toll devices on the highways. They finally carried out a thorough examination of the mission orders issued by the public services in order to ensure the compliance of the expenses related to the use of the "Jawaz" system.

In August, instructions and directives were sent to the competent police and gendarmerie services in order to verify and ensure that the administration’s vehicles are used for administrative purposes. They must ensure that the use of the administration’s motor vehicle is justified by a mission order specifying in particular the circulation perimeter, the destination and the nature of the mission.

With a national vehicle fleet of more than 184,000 service cars, for about 900,000 civil servants, or one car for five civil servants, Morocco is at the top of the countries using company cars, far ahead of Japan, 3,400 cars for more than 5 million civil servants, the United Kingdom, 3,600 company cars, Canada, (2,600), the United States (72,000) and France, (75,000). According to data provided by the National Transport and Logistics Company, which manages the state’s vehicle fleet, service cars result in annual expenses of more than 10 billion dirhams. These expenses could increase due to the rise in fuel prices observed in recent years.