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Rabat – Eight health workers have appeared at the Court of Appeal in Casablanca for a preliminary hearing for their alleged involvement in a case of fraud.
The Moroccan judicial police transferred the suspects to the public prosecutor’s office on Saturday as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged involvement of several health workers in fraud cases.
The investigation revealed that the eight defendants had been involved in creating a criminal network aimed at collecting money from benefactors, a statement from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said on Sunday.
No verdict has yet been decided in the case.
The suspects were alleging that the money from donors would be used to pay the hospitalization costs for destitute patients treated in a private clinic, where the majority of the defendants work.
But the majority of the suspects fraudulently inflated the bills in order to extract large amounts of money.
Intensive research and investigation enabled police to arrest the main defendant, who established contact with alleged patients and took photos of them to convince benefactors to donate money.
The main defendant would then create fake invoices, false reports, and medical reports alongside the other suspects.
DGSN said the suspects were subjected to judicial investigation before being brought before the court.
Five of the eight suspects are in custody ahead of trial, while the others have been temporarily released pending the final verdict.
Last month, the General Prosecutor at the Court of Appeal in Casablanca opened an investigation into a fraud scandal in the public health sector.
Police arrested 31 people for their alleged involvement in the case.
A total of 28 of the suspects are health workers, while 13 others are either employees or company owners.
The criminal charges the suspects are facing involve forming a criminal gang, bribery, wasting public funds, forging official documents, forging documents issued by the public administration, and destroying a public document that would facilitate the search for felonies and misdemeanors.
