Rabat Bank Fraud: 7 Charged in $1.9 Million Embezzlement Scheme

The investigating judge decided to prosecute the four defendants, including two brothers, in pre-trial detention, and the three others on provisional release for the alleged embezzlement of 19 million dirhams, for falsification of bank documents, forgery and use of forgeries, reports the daily Al Akhbar. The seven individuals, including employees of the bank branch concerned, were referred to the public prosecutor’s office of the court of first instance of Rabat last week.

According to the initial elements of the investigation, the results of an inspection commission sent by the bank’s headquarters in Casablanca to its branch in El Menzeh, in Rabat, revealed a misappropriation of funds and irregularities in the management. The commission’s report was transmitted to the competent public prosecutor’s office, which ordered a preliminary investigation, conducted by the judicial police specialized in financial crimes.

The investigators confirmed the discrepancies between the amounts deposited and those disbursed, concluding for the moment to a misappropriation of funds. But some sources close to the case indicate that it could be simple accounting management errors in the bank branch.