Regional Official Assaulted After Exposing Flour Subsidy Fraud in Morocco

The elected member of the Regional Council and former MP has just been assaulted for having denounced irregularities in the distribution of subsidized flour quotas intended for the municipalities of the region, reports the daily Assabah. She suspects one of her colleagues, a member of the Regional Council office, of being the perpetrator or the sponsor of this assault. The latter had been publicly accused of having diverted shares of flour belonging to the other municipalities and the beneficiary persons.

The victim is seriously injured and was given a medical certificate of physical incapacity for 22 days, the same source adds, stating that she could file a complaint. According to local civil society actors, large quantities of subsidized flour would have been diverted to be then sold at prices ranging between 90 and 140 dirhams per bag, much higher than the price set by law.

The beneficiary populations of these diverted flours are calling on the authorities to take their responsibilities and to punish the perpetrators of these acts. They also denounce the quality of the flour, stressing that it is unfit for consumption.