Scandal Erupts: Moroccan Politicians Implicated in Illegal Hotel Scheme and Health Violations

The reception and training center of Sidi Kacem is no longer operational. This center was closed last Saturday, after a visit by a joint commission. At the origin of this closure, the illegal transformation of this site with a socio-cultural vocation, financed from public funds, into a private hotel hosting in particular artistic evenings, animated by cheikhates, reports Al Akhbar. This hotel has been operating for 30 months without the slightest authorization. The president of the municipal council, Abdelilah Ou Issa (RNI), is suspected of having granted an authorization without the approval of the Urban Agency, or of the other bodies concerned, according to the report of the Regional Audit Office of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra.

The investigation made it possible to discover that the site, operated by the Banassa Center company, belonging to a senior PAM official, offers accommodation, catering and reception services without the slightest administrative approval, in flagrant violation of hygiene and safety standards. The infractions noted by the control commission are multiple and varied: storage of expired foodstuffs, the presence of products contaminated by insects, the proliferation of harmful insects in the kitchens, and an anarchic use of insecticides. Not to mention serious shortcomings, such as the lack of clear display of the services offered, inappropriate storage of cleaning products and food, and poorly placed garbage cans in the juice preparation area.

Local elected officials from the RNI and the PAM would be behind this embezzlement. The owner is said to have gone so far as to threaten the governor to demand compensation of 5 million dirhams if the establishment were to be closed.

In parallel with the closure of the reception and training center of Sidi Kacem, the Attorney General of the King, near the Court of Appeal of Rabat, should soon rule on possible prosecutions, the National Brigade of the Judicial Police having completed its investigations on the serious financial and administrative irregularities surrounding the diversion of this social project. Relying on the detailed report of the Regional Audit Office, a document that explicitly cites the names of officials and elected officials accused of abuse of power and misappropriation of public funds, the Attorney General at the Court of Auditors has seized the public prosecutor’s office.

To recall, the provincial council of Sidi Kacem had carried out the reception and training center of Sidi Kacem as part of an agreement signed in December 2016 with the wali of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, the governor of Sidi Kacem, the president of the regional council and representatives of the Ministry of Solidarity.