Scandals herald in the Moroccan New Year

He took a fancy to Ms Abouali when she appeared before him in court on prostitution charges. When he asked her if she had worked as a prostitute, she answered, "No, but I'd like to do it if it's with you."
She was acquitted and climbed straight into the judge's car.

- Radio Netherlands

According to Karima Idrissi and Nicolien den Boer in a report for the Worldwide Service of Radio Netherlands, the beginning of 2008 was less than a celebration for the Moroccan judiciary. This is an unfortunate setback as at the same time the Moroccan King has been cracking down hard on official corruption and calling for a reform of the judiciary. Our Judicial Affairs reporter Driss Andjar compiled this report.

In Morocco, 2008 has begun with a fresh stain on the reputation of the judiciary. An apparently respectable judge was caught with four kilos of hashish. Recently the country has been avidly following scandals involving judges, not just because of drugs, but also sex. The most notable of them centres on a young Moroccan woman, Rkia Abouali (pictured left).

According to the Moroccan authorities in the city of Fez, the hashish (known locally as chira) was found in the judge's car. No further details have been released. It isn't the first time a judge has got into trouble because of drugs, though this is the first judge from the south to be discredited. Up to now only judges from the north have been involved, principally because of alleged relationships with drugs barons.

The Moroccan government is fighting a virtually futile campaign against drugs barons in the north of the country. Judges often turn out to have been bribed by the underworld. The drugs criminal "Rammach", for example, managed to escape the law by slipping large sums of money to judges. Finally the case came to light and a number of judges were sacked. Rammach was sentenced to twenty years behind bars.

And then there are the sex scandals involving members of the judiciary. The most famous of them centres on Rkia Abouali, a young woman from the Atlas Mountains. For years she filmed her intimate moments with four judges and a procurator general. The videos not only record the men's sexual adventures with Ms Abouali, but also show them revealing the details of their corruption. She made the videos public, partly via the media. The judge who told the most secrets has since been fired.

He took a fancy to Ms Abouali when she appeared before him in court on prostitution charges. When he asked her if she had worked as a prostitute, she answered

"No, but I'd like to do it if it's with you."

She was acquitted and climbed straight into the judge's car. He moved her into his secret apartment, where the two lived together for three years. It was in this period that she recorded his confessions of corruption and filmed him in bed.

In letters to the media, Ms Abouali says she was motivated by revenge, claiming that she and her family had been the victims of police and judicial injustice. She said family members had often been wrongly convicted and she had been treated as a sex object and subjected to abuse. Ms Abouali is now also being detained on charges of prostitution and involvement in a murder, and is expected to face trial soon.

Morocco's scandals aren't only limited to the judiciary. There are also allegations of corruption against members of the civil and military police. King Mohammed IV has sacked a number of his close associates because of corruption. The Royal Family's Director of Security was forced to resign, as were leading figures in the military police and intelligence service. In a recent speech, the King said the judicial system needed radical reform.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news