The trial of the RNI deputy, Rachid El Fayek, president of the Oulad Tayeb commune (Fez), as well as other people including members of his family, civil servants and the private sector (16 people would be involved), immediately opened this Tuesday, April 5, 2022 around noon at the Court of appeal from Fez was immediately postponed.
The trial which, for this start, took place by videoconference was postponed to April 26, 2022 at the request of the defense of Rachid El Fayek, to allow the defendants to prepare their defense. This postponement was decided by magistrate Mohamed Lahya. El Fayek is under arrest on a number of equally serious charges, including those of corruption, embezzlement, waste of public funds, falsification of official documents and abuse of influence. .
Master Khalid El Bakkali, the lawyer for the president of the commune Oulad Tayeb, declared to MoroccoLatestNews that during the session which took place today, Tuesday, “in distance”, the defendant’s defense filed a request for his release,due to the deterioration of his health“. The lawyer stressed that a fair trial requires the follow-up of his client in state of release, noting that “he must be in good health so that he can answer questions from the court regarding a number of heavy charges he is facing“. El Bekkali also pointed out that there are other measures that Justice can resort to instead of prosecuting his client under arrest, such as the payment of a financial guarantee and the withdrawal of his passport.
The court is expected to rule shortly on the request for provisional release presented by the defense of the accused. “Because the parliamentarian Rachid El Fayek and his brother, Jawad, who occupy positions of municipal responsibility, present all the guarantees of their presence at the next hearing…”, pleaded Master Jawad Gnaoui, lawyer at the bar of Fez. The latter also demanded the provisional release of El Fayek’s secretary, Hakima Driouache. On the other hand, MoroccoLatestNews has learned that the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has instituted civil proceedings in this case.
Recall that the RNI deputy, Rachid El Fayek, president of the Oulad Tayeb commune, as well as the members of his “formed band” have been in preventive detention since March 25, 2022. The network was arrested after an investigation by the BNPJ into violations of town planning rules in the commune of Oulad Tayeb in the suburbs of the spiritual capital. But the ‘lord’ who drags a reputation as a political mercenary for his multiple ‘transhumances’ from one party to another (three) would not be his first disappointment with Justice, involved in this in some other shady affairs where miraculously he would have escaped.
This time, the conclusions of the BNPJ of the regional division of the judicial police in Fez are not kind to El Fayek. The latter allegedly forced a number of contractors to pay bribes in exchange for jobs and received bribes directly or indirectly through his particular clerk. He would have carried out suspicious operations in one of his private companies which have secret entrances and exits separating employees and potential victims.
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