Thursday, May 17, 2018

Fighting Corruption in Morocco


This week the Moroccan prosecutor's office launched a hotline dedicated to exposing acts of corruption  The public can now call a toll-free number - 0537718888 - and make complaints about acts of corruption

The implementation of this phone service is part of the national strategy to fight against corruption, which aims to promote the values ​​of integrity and transparency, to ensure the effectiveness of interventions of government departments in the field linked to the fight against corruption, in accordance with the principles of good governance as stipulated by the Constitution and Moroccan law.

The phone line reinforces the other mechanisms for denouncing acts of corruption, which are placed at the disposal of the citizens, the aim being to denounce these acts at the precise moment and with the necessary efficiency to control the cases of corruption or blackmail and inform the public prosecutor and the judicial police of the facts.

To this end, a call center under the authority of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which oversees the online processing of all calls, has been equipped with all the technological means of handling citizens' calls for transmission to the judge in charge, after have made sure that they relate to a crime of corruption. The judges in charge of these cases have the task of coordinating with the public prosecutor and the whistle-blower of these acts in order to arrest the suspect, in "flagrante delicto".

In an address delivered on the occasion of the launch of this new service, the Prosecutor of the King at the Court of Cassation, President of the Public Ministry, Mohamed Abdennabaoui, stressed that this new service is dedicated to the denunciation of acts of corruption or blackmail to which citizens may be exposed in public administrations and public services, aims to encourage citizens to denounce such acts.

Given the important role of citizens in the fight against corruption, Mr. Abdennabaoui said that the whistleblowing procedure will be conducted in anonymity to preserve the identity of the whistleblower, explaining that the independence of the judiciary ensures the perfect coordination between government departments and public services.

The Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of Reform of the Administration and Civil Service, Mohamed Benabdelkader, for his part, noted that the launch of this hotline to denounce corruption is an "important step" in the process of building the rule of law and transparency and as a key mechanism in the implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy.

In parallel with the launch of this issue to denounce corruption in its various forms, an advertisement of about 48 seconds has been aired to publicise this new service to the public.

In its first two days, the direct telephone line dedicated to the denunciation of acts of corruption was quick to bear fruit, allowing the arrest in the flagrante delicto, of several individuals in three different cities.

Since its launch on Monday, the hotline has received some 355 calls, and allowed arrests in three cases of corruption in Fez, Sidi Bennour and Inezgane.



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