Hiba Press / A. Ayash
Minister of Justice Abdellatif Wahbi banned associations for the protection of public funds from filing complaints against elected officials and figures in cases of embezzlement of public funds.
The draft Criminal Procedure Code, which was approved by the government, explicitly states that “investigations and public prosecutions regarding crimes against public funds cannot be conducted except at the request of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation in his capacity as head of the Public Prosecution Service, based on a referral from the Supreme Council of Accounts, or based on a request accompanied by a report from the General Inspectorate of Finance, the General Inspectorate of Territorial Administration, the General Inspectorates of Ministries or from the relevant administrations, or based on a referral from the National Authority for Integrity, Prevention and Combating Corruption, or any body that the law grants the authority to do so.”
On the subject, human rights activist Mohamed Al-Ghloussi, head of the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Public Money, said: “Those who believe that the drafters of Article 3 of the draft Criminal Procedure Code aim to prevent civil society from playing its role in combating corruption and bribery are mistaken. The matter goes beyond that, as the real goal of this step is to strip society, individuals and groups, of all the legal, procedural and rights tools and capabilities to confront corruption and thieves of public money and to demand linking responsibility to accountability after it became clear to those who benefit from the reality of corruption that the current circumstances allow for the passage of such laws that constitute, in essence, a legal and constitutional setback.”
Al-Ghoulousi added, “The aforementioned article intensifies and translates the clear will of the trend that benefits from illicit enrichment, the reality of corrupt rents, and the exploitation of public responsibility positions, aiming to close the legal and civil field and empty it of its content to end any disturbance, threat, or disruption to the interests of corruption and rent-seeking networks and mafias.”
He continued by saying, “The battle to combat corruption, rent-seeking and bribery, and to link responsibility to accountability and to moralize public life are absolutely inseparable from the battle for democracy. It is therefore a battle that does not concern the association alone, but rather concerns all living forces and all honest wills that believe in another possible Morocco based on the fair distribution of wealth, the separation of powers and linking responsibility to accountability. The lobby that benefits from the reality of the marriage of power with money and illicit enrichment seeks to normalize corruption, rent-seeking and bribery and legitimize this by using all means and mechanisms, including institutional mechanisms (parliament), which is supposed to be a mechanism for implementing Morocco’s international and constitutional obligations to moralize public life and combat corruption and bribery, will unfortunately be used to defend the spread of corruption and bribery, impunity and restrictions on opponents and exposers of corruption. All of this requires living forces and all democrats and honorable people to unite to formulate a struggle program to confront the trend that seeks to undermine legal and constitutional gains.”
Al-Ghoulousi concluded his post by saying, “The above-mentioned article constitutes a violation of the Constitution, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which Morocco has ratified, and Law No. 10-37 on the protection of whistleblowers on corruption crimes, in addition to restricting and reducing the tasks and role of public prosecutors and judicial police with regard to confronting violations of the criminal law, as stated in the current criminal procedure.”
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