Abdelaziz El Badraoui, the former president of Moroccan football club Raja Casablanca and ex-head of the company Ozone, has been sentenced to six years in prison by Casablanca’s Court of Appeal.
El Badraoui was found guilty of irregularities in the management of public contracts and breaches of local authority laws. However, the court dismissed the forgery charges.
In a final statement, El Badraoui denied full responsibility, saying: “The charges against me are heavy. Based on the documents in the file, I still do not know my real position in this case.” He added that his company, Ozone, is still owed nearly 10 million dirhams in unpaid public contracts, which contributed to significant job losses and forced the company into judicial restructuring.
The ruling forms part of a wider crackdown on corruption involving several high-profile figures.
Earlier this month, Mohamed Boudrika, also a former Raja president and Moroccan MP, was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud, forgery and issuing bad cheques. Boudrika was arrested in Germany in July 2024 and extradited to Morocco earlier this year. His time at Raja was marred by controversies — most recently the illegal resale of World Cup tickets during Morocco’s 2022 tournament.
In a similar case, the Financial Crimes Chamber at Casablanca’s Court of Appeal handed down on July 29 prison sentences totalling 17 years in the “Bouznika network” case, which exposed large-scale public embezzlement.
Among those convicted was Mohamed Karimine, president of Bouznika’s communal council and member of the Istiqlal Party. He received a seven-year sentence for misappropriating public funds and abusing his position. Forgery charges against him were dismissed.
An ex-communal engineer known as “the Tangerois” was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the case.
Karimine defended his actions, stating that the findings of the Regional Court of Accounts had been addressed, though some recommendations required more time due to administrative and legal challenges. He also said that the General Inspection of Territorial Administration had not questioned any communal officials.
