MarrakeshAbout 10 years ago, Morocco launched the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, and its goal, according to its preamble, is “to consolidate integrity and reduce corruption by the year 2025, by making it on a tangible and continuous downward trend, strengthening citizens’ confidence, and improving the integrity of corruption.” Business climate, and Morocco is positioned internationally by reaching the level of 60 out of 100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index for the year 2025, and gaining 20 ranks in the Business Climate Index, and 25 ranks in the Global Competitiveness Index in the same year,” a goal that is still unattainable before the desired date.
Moroccans are anticipating the goals of this strategy, especially after the National Commission for Integrity, Preventing and Combating Bribery issued its report for the year 2023, which identified a group of imbalances. It is the first report of its kind that includes a full year after Law 46.19 entered into force following the appointment of the members of the Commission’s Council and its Secretary-General. .
The Moroccan government reacted to the report with clear annoyance, which perpetuated the controversy that is repeated whenever a constitutional oversight institution issues a report on one of the major topics in Morocco.
In parallel with the report, the Commission issued two reports, the first covering Morocco’s international obligations to combat corruption, and the second framing criminally criminalized acts of corruption.
Unsatisfactory situation
Explain Report of the National Commission for Integrity By obtaining 38 points out of 100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index for the year 2023, Morocco has declined by 5 points during the last five years, which was reflected in the country’s ranking, as it moved from rank 73 out of 180 countries in 2018, to rank 97 in 2023, indicating The group of countries that placed preventing and combating corruption at the top of their national priorities was able to raise their ranking to very advanced levels.
The report highlighted Morocco’s decline in the political corruption index, the law enforcement and open government indexes, which are affiliated with the rule of law index, and the indicators of independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press, and online services.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Muhammad Bashir Al-Rashidi, head of the National Commission for Integrity and Prevention of Bribery, pointed out the continued unsatisfactory situation of corruption in Morocco, indicating that it constitutes a structural reality that deepens the gap regarding the obligations of public authorities and the efforts made.
The head of the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Public Money, Mohamed Al-Glousi, stressed to Al-Jazeera Net the importance of the report, which used a scientific and objective methodology, and recorded a decline in anti-corruption indicators in Morocco, according to him.
Al-Glossi touched on some sectors where bribery is widespread, especially the field of business and investment, warning of the danger of overlooking its consequences and not dealing with it with the necessary seriousness.
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Bashir Al-Rashidi, President of the National Commission for Integrity, Preventing and Combating Bribery, explains the meaning of the Corruption Perception Index and considers its results in Morocco “unsatisfactory.” pic.twitter.com/ZqpZP1Rurn— 2M.ma (@2MInteractive) October 17, 2024
The costs of corruption
While the report highlights that the high costs of corruption are borne by vulnerable groups, experts agree that corruption absorbs between 4 to 6% of the total gross domestic product, equivalent to a loss of 20 billion dirhams annually, which affects the progress of the development process in the country, and inhibits Its ambitions to achieve the best results, which requires opening a public debate about it, according to Al-Galousi.
The report focused on the business climate, as 68% of Moroccan contractors consider that corruption is widespread or very widespread, and that obtaining licenses, authorizations, and exceptional licenses, public deals and procurement, and recruitment, appointment, and promotion in the private sector, are the three areas most affected by corruption.
On the other hand, the report highlighted the outcome of the direct line for reporting bribery affiliated with the Presidency of the Public Prosecution, which enabled the recording of 243 arrests of suspects in flagrante delicto. It also shed light on financial crimes cases, which in 2022 numbered a total of 716 cases.
Corruption is often associated in people's minds with bribery only, but the thematic report enumerates criminal acts of corruption in embezzlement, serious negligence leading to it, crimes of treachery, illegal obtaining of benefits and benefits, bribery, abuse of influence, and money laundering, based on legal documents and judicial jurisprudence.
He also specifically mentioned the crime of electoral bribery, the exploitation of public property in electoral campaigns, the misuse of company funds, the crime of bankruptcy, tax fraud, customs smuggling, and obtaining or informing others of distinguished information that did not reach the public’s attention.
Controversy
As expected, the report caused widespread controversy, reaching the point of being commented on by government spokesman Mustafa Paytas, who refused to “outbid the government in the field of fighting corruption.”
Paytas confirmed, in a press conference following the government council meeting, that the government is deeply involved in fighting corruption, highlighting the increase in the number of judicial prosecutions related to financial crimes, and the approval of the Public Transactions Decree with new contents that guarantee transparency and integrity, expressing his astonishment at the lack of attention to all these efforts.
The spokesman stressed that the battle against corruption is being managed according to participatory work in which the government contributes along with the rest of the constitutional institutions, calling on everyone who has files or data on corruption to go to the judiciary.
For his part, Al-Rashidi highlighted to Al-Jazeera Net the misunderstanding of this issue, stressing that the work of the current government or previous governments in the field of combating corruption cannot be underestimated.
The speaker appreciated the authority’s receipt from the government of drafts of anti-corruption projects for expressing an opinion on them, related to conflicts of interest and redeclaring property, and also related to protecting employees who report corruption.
However, this does not prevent us from pointing out that the Prime Minister has not held a meeting of the National Anti-Corruption Committee since its inauguration in 2017, despite his correspondence about it, which plays a decisive role in coordination and institutional integration in the field of combating corruption, and the weakness of the government’s interaction with the recommendations of the Commission in its capacity as an institution. Regulatory constitutionality, Al-Rashidi adds.
While Al-Glossi recorded that the report alarmed some of the forces benefiting from the reality of corruption, and called for criminalizing illicit enrichment, accelerating the amendment of the compulsory property declaration law, ratifying the conflict of interest law, protecting reporting employees, and reconsidering the laws regulating elections, which strengthens the legal arsenal and contributes to Combating corruption, in line with international conventions.
Recommendations
Regarding optimism about the possibility of achieving tangible progress in the field of combating corruption in the coming years, Al-Rashidi answered that it is not possible to talk about optimism or pessimism in this regard, and stressed that the situation is unsatisfactory and requires additional efforts, highlighting that the conditions have become mature year after year.
The speaker stressed the necessity of launching a new dynamic based on achievements and aiming to produce impact, within the framework of cohesion and convergence among all concerned, to achieve the transition to a new era marked by a strong and sustainable downward curve of the phenomenon of corruption, which is necessary for the complete liberation of all development and prosperity energies, in addition to optimal investment. The ratified anti-corruption agreements strengthen Morocco’s commitment at the international level.
He stressed that Morocco's availability of a national anti-corruption strategy is positive, but its effectiveness was significantly affected by the limitations of its governance system, especially at the level of supervision and coordination. After the strong dynamism that characterized the year 2019 after the adoption of the recommendations of the Commission’s first report, it quickly witnessed a noticeable decline, which consolidated the return to the absence of the sectoral dimension (the work of the relevant ministries without coordination), which prevented the required efficiency and achieving the results expected from this strategy.