Spain: bank accounts of a Moroccan consulate seized by the justice system

The Social Court No. 1 of Murcia has officially ordered the seizure of the bank accounts of the Moroccan consulate in order to guarantee the payment of compensation to a former employee. This exceptional measure comes after the persistent refusal of the Kingdom to comply with a final judgment condemning the consulate for serious acts of harassment.

The case, revealed by the Spanish media El Independiente and El Confidencial, concerns the former secretary of the consul Sidi Mohammed Biedallah. The plaintiff had denounced an ordeal that began in 2022, involving sexual, professional and moral harassment. The justice system not only declared her dismissal null and void, but also described an employer’s strategy of "professional annihilation". According to the magistrate, the employee was kept for two years in unworthy conditions, isolated without access to the Internet, after refusing the advances and requests deemed shameful by the diplomat.

Faced with the lack of voluntary payment by the consulate, the court has resorted to the enforcement procedure. The order, signed last October, instructs Banco de Santander to proceed with the seizure of the necessary funds from the accounts of the diplomatic representation. The total amount of the operation exceeds 100,000 euros. This sum includes a main compensation of more than 50,000 euros, as well as 7,000 euros in legal fees and interest.

In addition to these fixed amounts, the consulate must pay the outstanding salaries accumulated since the illegal dismissal. The judgment imposes the payment of a penalty of 56.89 euros per day until the effective reinstatement of the employee or the definitive regularization of her situation. For the victim’s lawyer, Joaquín Dólera, this seizure was the last resort against an institution that wrongly considered itself above the social laws in force on Spanish territory.