Corruption Costs Morocco $5 Billion Annually

Corruption costs the Kingdom 5 billion dollars annually due to its spread in all sectors, the head of the National Authority for Integrity, Prevention and Combating Corruption in Morocco, Mohamed Bachir Rachdi.

He added, “This is especially true since the Makhzen authorities have withdrawn or frozen all draft laws that would criminalize illicit enrichment”.

The Moroccan official made the remarks in an interview with a Moroccan weekly newspaper that devoted its front page to the corruption file under the title “The cost of corruption in Morocco… billions wasted. ” He confirmed that this scourge “has become a structural reality in the country and has spread in all areas, especially licensing, public contracts and employment, and public institutions top the list of the most corrupt sectors.”

In a previous report, the Moroccan Authority stated that “the corruption crisis in the country is not just a crisis of numbers and reports, but a structural crisis related to the weakness of the political will to reform.”

Because what the commission revealed was not to the liking of the Makhzen regime, which accumulates the wealth of the rich and drains the pockets of the poor, it punished and took revenge on it, reducing the budget of the oversight body for the fiscal year 2025, in addition to attacking it inside parliament and in various media platforms, in practices that have become frequent against anyone who dares to expose the corrupts, even if they are heads of oversight bodies and official institutions.

On several occasions, the head of the Moroccan Authority has sounded the alarm because “corruption in the country is no longer just a moral or legal issue, but rather a major obstacle to development and stability, and its economic costs are high, as it leads to the squandering of resources, the disruption of investment, the decline in productivity, and the widening of the circle of social and economic disparities.”

The seriousness of the corruption scourge has increased the involvement of senior officials in corruption cases, especially since the Makhzen government provides legal immunity to corrupt people, criminalizes reporting them, and silences those who protest against it and reject its blatant appearance.

In a related context, local media reports have harshly criticized the Moroccan parliament, which is supposed to be a symbol of oversight and integrity. Dozens of MPs have been implicated in cases related to corruption and embezzlement of public funds.

The recent government reshuffle in Morocco revealed another aspect of corruption: the marriage of power and interests. Instead of relying on competence and experience in selecting ministers, appointments appeared as a tool for settling political scores and granting ministerial positions and portfolios, complementing party or personal alliances or implicit deals in the business world.

Observers in Morocco agree that the country’s political reality mirrors the spread of corruption at various levels. While the government and parliament are witnessing an internal conflict over the National Integrity Authority’s reports, the citizens remain the most affected by this rampant corruption.

Moroccan human rights activists have repeatedly warned of “the rampant corruption in the Kingdom after it has spread to all state institutions”, as the Makhzen authorities, headed by the Ministry of Justice, have begun to protect thieves of public money while suppressing all free voices that fight this “mafia”.

In this context, the head of the Moroccan Authority for the Protection of Public Money, Mohamed el-Ghalloussi, confirmed during a press conference that “structural” and “systematic” corruption in Morocco has become a serious threat to the state and society, calling for “the necessity of linking responsibility to accountability and criminalizing conflicts of interest and illicit enrichment, with impunity and confiscating the money and property of thieves of public money.”

Al-Ghalloussi stressed that the public authorities seek to “fence” the civil, legal and political fields in the country, “for the benefit of the parties that accumulate wealth by exploiting power, influence and monopoly positions, and to protect the parties and positions that benefit from the reality of rent, corruption and the marriage of power and money.”