Rabat – Prosecutor at Rabat’s First Instance Court said police put Maati Monjib in detention in order to continue the investigation into his alleged involvement in money laundering.
The prosecutor’s office issued a statement today after police arrested the university professor yesterday in Rabat.
The statement from the prosecutor said the arrest comes after the completion of preliminary investigation procedures linking Monjib and members of his family to money laundering schemes.
Police brought Maati Monjib before the investigating judge who decided to put the professor in custody and continue the investigation.
The statement said the prosecutor ordered the appearance of one of Monjib’s relatives as well.
The money laundering case began years ago.
Maati Monjib owned NGO SARL Ibn Rochd Center, which was running until 2014.
Established in 1999, the NGO allegedly stopped its activities because the Court of Auditors decided to look into the organization’s finances.
On Tuesday, Le360 said Maati Monjib owned 98% of the shares of the NGO. The university professor, however, gave his sister the post of director when she only held 1% of the shares.
The news outlet said subsidies came mainly from the Dutch NGO “Free Press Unlimited” and the American organization “National Endowment For Democracy.”
“Other funds were received by Maati Monjib and were in the order of MAD 1.4 million ($156,000),” it added.
Le360 claimed that Monjib put most of the money in two different accounts at a bank in Rabat.
“In five years, he transferred to these accounts MAD 3.5 million ($392,000) and was withdrawing amounts in cash.”
The withdrawals reached MAD 3.1 million ($347,000) of which MAD 2.45 million ($275,000) were deposited in a third account, according to the same source.
Le360 said that Maati Monjib withdrew more than MAD 2 million ($224,000) on November 1, 2014, from the now-blocked third account.
“This operation was carried out on the eve of the dissolution of the Ibn Rochd Center.”
The news outlet said the money is in addition to real estate properties that Maati Monjb and his family own, which raised suspicion as to the source of the money. The suspicion comes as the salaries of university professors do not exceed MAD 22,000 ($2,500) monthly.
