Rabat – Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi kicked off a lively exchange during a budget debate session at Parliament yesterday, when he delivered a plea in rejection of the bill relating to criminalizing illicit enrichment.
Addressing members of Parliament’s Justice and Legislation Committee, Ouahbi warned that this bill could open the floodgates to false allegations, which he argued would subject hundreds of thousands of state employees to automatic investigations without any real protection against harm.
Ouahbi’s intervention came as part of a debate about the 2026 budgets of the Ministry of Justice and the High Council of Judicial Power. But it quickly turned into a more critical discussion as he turned to the illegal enrichment issue, which has for years been one of the most controversial measures against corruption in Morocco.
The minister framed the draft law not as a tool for transparency but as a potential weapon in the hands of anyone willing to file a complaint, no matter how baseless.
He pointed to routine administrative transactions to support his claims, arguing that even in common disputes, such as a disagreement over issuing a birth certificate, it is enough reason to place an employee under suspicion.
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A total of 800,000 civil servants in the country only needed to say no to create a chain of problems because after a complaint is received by the public prosecutor, his staff’s first response is neither to check facts nor to communicate, but to invite the employee to appear before them, he warned.
The minister quoted a scenario of employees roaming from one police brigade to another indefinitely, losing time, dignity, as well as any idea of fairness, as if the presumption of innocence, as guaranteed in the Constitution, dangled by a thread.
Ouahbi argued that this system provides nothing to protect those who find themselves in harm’s way.
He questioned the assurance available to avoid false complaints, asking, for instance, what kind of protection is guaranteed from being accused of either extorting money or mishandling administrative fees for merely making an accusation.
His emphasis is that unless it is amended, legislation could turn regular workers into easy prey to get caught up in investigations that could lead nowhere in finding answers to justice.
He finished his remarks with a pointed Moroccan expression, stating that it’s easy to support anti-corruption as an ideology but much more difficult to undertake in a manner that is mindful of innocent lives. “If you see corruption, you can put some lipstick on me,” he said.
