Morocco Lawmakers Debate Controversial Anti-Corruption Authority Bill

According to L’Economiste, the discussions focused on aspects related to the investigative power granted to this authority, the status of officers and interactions with the public prosecutor’s office and the judicial police, as well as the guarantees and rights of prosecuted persons. Several provisions need to be clarified, hammered the members of the justice and legislation commission in the House of Representatives.

For Amina Maelainine, PJD deputy, "this text has tried to reach a consensual version. But, it is difficult to meet the requirements of political or institutional consensus in the framework of legislative work." Ouahbi, SG of the PAM and lawyer, added that "certain provisions of this text ’risk moving towards the implantation of the same logic of the SS services during the Nazi regime in Germany’. He also addressed the risks posed by these provisions, insofar as justice can rule on a case on the basis of the minutes in the absence of other means of challenge.

The deputies of the PAM and the USFP insisted on the importance of strengthening the guarantees, mainly during the interrogation and the drafting of the minutes, while providing for the law to take into account the video recording, indicates the same source. Emphasis was also placed on the issue of the opposability of the minutes drawn up by the agents of the authority, in the absence of judicial police officers. Articles 24, 31, 291 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were also the subject of debate.

The fourth discussion session on the draft law relating to the integrity, prevention and anti-corruption authority is scheduled for next Monday, October 12, in order to address the text in a thorough manner, concludes the newspaper.