Record Fines Sought in Morocco Trial of Ex-CEO’s Sexual Predation Network

On Tuesday, the lawyer for the civil parties, Aïcha Guellaâ, president of the Moroccan Association for Victims’ Rights (AMDV), requested the conviction of the accused for the acts attributed to them and for the charges brought against them by the public prosecutor’s office, as well as compensation of three victims for 5 million dirhams each, and compensation of three other victims for 3 million dirhams each, and for the company, compensation of the six victims for 5 million dirhams. For his part, the representative of the public prosecutor’s office requested that the president of the session condemn the six accused for the charges against them and strengthen the sentences.

The prosecution of Jacques Bouthier by the French justice system for "human trafficking" has encouraged the victims of his companies in Tangier to file a complaint against him, said Aïcha Guellaâ during the hearing. She reported that one of the victims stated in the police records that the former CEO of the Assu 2000 group "harassed her and sent her indecent messages via the WhatsApp messaging application, and that he fired certain victims for not responding to his sexual desires".

According to the lawyer, Jacques Bouthier and the managers of his subsidiaries in Tangier exploited the social situation of the victims for "human trafficking by sexually exploiting the female workers", and the companies of the former CEO Assu 2000 organized trips abroad to allow "Bouthier to enjoy the sight of their bodies". The director of one of the subsidiaries of Jacques Bouthier’s company "harassed the employees by telling them that the owner of the company liked thin girls with small breasts," continues Guellaâ, adding that the seven detainees were "involved in attracting victims after organizing alcoholic evenings, and there are other potential victims".