Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – The Constitutional Court decided on Tuesday evening to strip Mohamed El Haidaou, an elected representative from the local electoral district of Safi in the Safi province, from his membership in the House of Representatives.
El Haidaou, who is also the president of Olympique Safi football club, has been embroiled in a massive legal battle for his involvement in a case of manipulating tickets for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and selling them on the black market.
The case revolves around the sale of tickets that were meant to be distributed free of charge to Moroccan fans for the Morocco-France match in the tournament’s semi-finals.
The court mandated the initiation of elections to fill the vacant seat, noting that its decision to revoke El Haidaoui’s membership stemmed from a verdict issued by the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation on November 16, 2023.
This decision rejected his appeal seeking to overturn the ruling of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the judgment rendered by the First Instance Court in Safi.
SNRT News reported that El-Haidaoui was convicted of the offense of issuing checks without sufficient funds, resulting in a three-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of MAD 30,000 (Over $3,000), payable immediately.
Read also: Moroccan Politician Denied Temporary Release in Qatar World Cup Tickets Case
This development comes shortly after a similar decision that froze the parliamentary membership of Abdenabi El Aidoudi, a member of the Party of the Popular Movement, elected from the local electoral district of Sidi Kacem.
His seat was declared vacant, and by-elections are set to take place. The decision was based on an appellate ruling against Al Aidoudi, charging him with embezzlement of public funds and sentencing him to a two-year suspended prison term and a fine of MAD 500,000 (Over $50,000).
The court has received requests from the Parliament’s office to strip four other deputies of their membership after court rulings removed them from their leadership positions in territorial communes.
The affected deputies include Mohamed Karimin from the Bouznika commune, Said El Zaidi from the Charrate commune, Abdelkader El Bousiri from the Fez commune, and Yassine El Radi from the Sidi Slimane commune.
