Yesterday, Wednesday, the public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Séfrou decided to postpone the trial of the mayor of Imouzer Kandar, Mustapha Lakhsem, to a later date.
Lakhsem is being prosecuted following the complaint filed by the governor of the Sefrou region, Omar Touimi Benjelloun, for defamation. Indeed, the mayor elected under the colors of the Popular Movement (MP), an ex-RME (Germany) and former world champion of full-contact and kickboxing, is accused of having made remarks, deemed inappropriate, on dysfunctions and the blocking of projects in the city he administers. In this sense, he claimed to have been “pressured” by certain officials to award contracts to specific companies.
At the beginning of the week, he had been heard by the public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Séfrou. The prosecution had given him two months to provide proof of the charges brought against the governor of the Sefrou region. According to MoroccoLatestNews sources on the spot, the court decided to prosecute him in a state of freedom, without bond.
Indeed, during a previous session, the prosecution had summoned him to ” pay a bail of 50 thousand dirhams not to be prosecuted under arrest“. On Tuesday, the MP had expressed his complete “solidarity” with the mayor of Imouzer Kandar who is also a member of the national council of the party and had assured ” follow closely the developments of this file “.
For the past few days, many followers have supported him on the web. Monday when he left the CFI, Mustapha Lakhsem said in a video shared on his social networks that he had refused to pay a bail of 50,000 dirhams allowing him to be prosecuted on bail. ” I refused to pay this sum on principle and I will refuse to pay even if it is only 2000 dhs. I am innocent and I did nothing! “.
The case dates back several months, when the mayor demanded from the authorities an audit of several projects carried out as part of the city’s rehabilitation project. The governor then retaliated by asking his guardianship to open a procedure for the dissolution of the council of the commune and the dismissal of its president.
Since then, the tensions between the two parties have gone crescendo and would have even won the council of the commune, where it seems, the mayor would no longer have the majority. He had been elected to the presidency of the Municipal Council of Imouzer in September 2021, with 16 votes out of a total of 22 votes, thanks to an alliance made up of the parties of the USFP, the Istiqlal and the RNI. The opposition, today with 17 votes out of 28, has turned the tide and rejects projects after projects, including those concerning the management of the hygiene service and the collection of waste by a delegated company whose mayor had rejected the proposal.