Morocco Struggles to Recover $80 Billion in Drug Trafficking Fines

In response to criticism from opposition groups during the debate on the draft settlement law for the execution of the 2022 budget at the Financial Control Commission of the House of Representatives, Lekjaa acknowledged the difficulty for the State to recover these 800 billion dirhams representing fines to be paid to the customs administration by criminals convicted by the courts for drug trafficking.

The Budget Minister criticized the slowness of the administration in recovering these receivables, assuring that he is in discussion with Abdellatif Ouahbi, Minister of Justice, Mohamed Abdennabaoui, Delegate President of the Higher Council of the Judiciary, and Zineb El Adaoui, President of the Court of Auditors, so that these amounts are recovered as soon as possible.

Once the conviction is pronounced and the criminals sent to prison, the latter no longer pay the fine that has been set for them, even though it is already recorded as receivables, explains Lekjaa, specifying that the Court of Auditors has only managed to recover 0.2% of the receivables, or about 11.63 million dirhams. An amount he considers very low.

Also, these judicial fines are disproportionate to the capacity of the convicted, considered as insolvent, continued the member of the government who reaffirmed his determination to fight against taxpayers, especially companies, who use fraudulent maneuvers to avoid paying their taxes.