The former director of the urban agency of Marrakech asked a real estate developer for a MAD 500,000 bribe (€47,132). The police caught him in the act.
Rabat – The Marrakech Court of Appeal sentenced the former director of the urban agency of Marrakech, Khalid Ouaya, to 10 years in prison and a fine of MAD 1 million (€94,265).
Police arrested Ouaya on corruption suspicion on July 4, 2019.
The Court also handed Ouaya’s wife and an architect to 5 years prison terms and fined them MAD 1 million each. The three defendants will also jointly pay MAD 300,000 (€28,279) to the plaintiff’s company, as well as a symbolic Dirham to the NGO Transparency Morocco.
The case dates back to July 4, when a real-estate developer, Rachid Hosni, blew the whistle on the former director of the urban agency. Ouaya had demanded a MAD 500,000 (€47,132) bribe to speed up authorization procedures for the plaintiff’s property development projects.
The Police subsequently set a trap for Ouaya, helped by Hosni.
Hosni set up a meeting with Ouaya on July 4, at 5 pm to hand over the money. The police, watching the scene from a distance, caught Ouaya in the act.
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After taking the bribe, Ouaya attempted to avoid arrest by quickly driving away in his official state-owned vehicle. Not far from the scene, Ouaya’s runaway attempt ended when he crashed into a police car.
Following his arrest, the Marrakech National Brigade of Judiciary Police (BNPJ) found a check for MAD 8,860,000 (€835,272) in Ouaya’s car in addition to the bribe. The real-estate developer wrote the check to Ouaya’s wife company.
After searching his house, the BNPJ found MAD 2.5 million (€235,686), in addition to 42 luxury watches and bracelets (Rolex, Hublot, Cartier, Bulgari), one hundred pieces of jewelry set with precious stones, and more than 74 luxury handbags (Hermes, Valentino, Ferragamo, Prada, Céline, Christian).
