The United Arab Emirates Expels Moroccan Elected Official

The municipal elected official and member of the Fès City Council, Sara Khaddar, who is also vice-president of the Saïs district in Fès, arrived at Mohammed V Airport. She was taken into custody by BNPJ officers and then placed in pretrial detention. She is expected to be questioned about the accusations against her as part of the case involving former USFP parliamentarian Abdelkader El Boussiri, who is currently in detention and has been sentenced to eight years in prison, Al Akhbar reports. Her name was mentioned by some of those implicated in the case.

Having failed to respond to a summons from the Regional Brigade of the Judicial Police, the King’s prosecutor general had taken a preventive measure on October 6, 2023, barring her from leaving the country. But the elected official managed to leave Morocco for Turkey the day before the ban came into force. The Moroccan authorities then issued an international arrest warrant against her.

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Sara Khaddar is considered an intermediary who facilitates the awarding of contracts to business owners במסגרת calls for tenders and purchase orders issued by the City Council, in exchange for commissions, but also as former parliamentarian El Boussiri’s “black box.” He is accused of selecting the companies eligible to receive purchase orders and public contracts launched by the municipality of Fès. He did not act alone. The former vice-president of the City Council in charge of public contracts was assisted by certain intermediaries tasked with identifying companies wishing to obtain these contracts through underhanded means, in exchange for a commission of 10% of the total amount of the contract or purchase order, which was paid to him as a bribe.

El Boussiri also told investigators that he had an intimate relationship with the councilor. He had also fitted out commercial premises for her on the Aïn Chkef road, where the elected official could sell fabrics and clothing that he himself had imported from Turkey for a value of 200,000 dirhams. “He also acknowledged that she had intervened with him several times on behalf of people she knew, enabling them to obtain purchase orders from the municipality,” the same source reports.