Moroccan Politician Mohamed Mobdii Arrested on Corruption Charges

Rabat – Head of the Populist Movement Party and President of the City Council in Faqih Bensalah Mohamed Mobdii, was arrested on Wednesday and placed under the custody of the police department in Casablanca.

Mobdii was arrested at 11:30 a.m. at his residence and was taken in to testify in a corruption case that was first filed in 2020, according to converging reports.

Prior to today’s arrest, Mobdii had submitted his resignation yesterday and no longer chairs the Justice, Legislation, and Human Rights Committee in Morocco’s House of Representatives.

Mobdii’s corruption case dates back to 2020 when the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Public Funds submitted a complaint against Mohamed Mbedia about the waste of public funds, illegal enrichment, violation of the law on public procurement, and a number of financial, and legal and management imbalances in the municipality of Faqih Ben Saleh.

The politician managed the city council for 23 years.

In their complaint, the association relied on reports from the Interior Ministry, which had detected a list of violations in files related to public construction deals in the city of Faqih bin Saleh. The Supreme Council of Accounts echoes the ministry’s reports, showing a long list of irregularities in the management of the small city.

The report from the Interior Ministry indicates that, under his mandate, over MAD 5 million ($496,770) were spent on construction projects that were left unfinished.

The report of the Supreme Council of Accounts revealed that when he was the Minister of Public Service, he wasted billions of public funds on a fake study.