Grote corruptieschandaal met minister van Justitie inzake advocatenexamens in Marokko

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Hespress Politiek


Minister Ouahbi in het hart van vriendjespolitiek, controverse over corruptie na resultaten van balie-examens


Mounir Mhimdate

woensdag 4 januari 2023 - 14:01

De lijst van kandidaten die geslaagd zijn voor het nationale balie-examen van Marokko, die een paar dagen geleden werd onthuld, heeft de Marokkaanse minister van Justitie meegesleurd in een wervelende controverse, die hij verergerde door zijn recente verklaringen aan de pers.

Advocaten en rechtenstudenten organiseerden dinsdag een demonstratie voor het parlement in Rabat, om te protesteren tegen de examenresultaten, en riepen op tot het openen van een onderzoek om vermeend "nepotisme en corruptie" aan het licht te brengen.

Moderniteit en authenticiteit Partijsecretaris en minister van Justitie Abdelatif Ouahbi staat in het middelpunt van deze controverses rond dit examen, zowel vanwege zijn positie als autoriteit op het gebied van het gerechtelijk apparaat, als zijn zoon en naaste familieleden die met succes slaagden voor het schriftelijke balie-examen.

Maandag gaf Ouahbi in een persverklaring aan de zijlijn van een vergadering op het hoofdkwartier van zijn ministerie commentaar op de controverse, wat verdere verontwaardiging veroorzaakte door zijn toon en "ondermaatse pogingen om de situatie uit te leggen", zeggen protesterende studenten die spraken met Hespress.

"Als ze willen dat ik de volledige lijst publiceer van degenen die zijn geslaagd en degenen die niet zijn geslaagd, zal ik die met namen publiceren", zei hij, waarmee hij suggereerde dat fraude onmogelijk was aangezien de correctie geautomatiseerd was.

Nassima L, een afgestudeerde in de rechten die het balie-examen aflegde en later in Rabat aanwezig was om tegen de resultaten te protesteren, vertelde Hespress dat de vermelding van de quota door de minister op zich al problematisch is.

De afgestudeerde en haar collega's waren niet overtuigd door de verklaringen van Ouahbi, die zei dat vriendjespolitiek en corruptie zeer waarschijnlijk zijn wanneer open posities zo beperkt zijn, en voegde eraan toe: "Hij zei dat hij de lijsten kan publiceren en een onderzoek weigert, dus we zullen beide lijsten blijven eisen." en een onderzoek.”

In reactie op beschuldigingen van vriendjespolitiek nadat veel succesvolle kandidaten waren geïdentificeerd als zonen en familieleden van machtige families, zei de minister: “Zijn het geen burgers? Hebben zij niet het recht om te slagen? Hoeveel zijn er? 60, 70 of 100? 2.000 kandidaten zijn geslaagd, als de lijst 900 zonen van advocaten en 50 zonen van politici zou bevatten, zou het een andere situatie zijn geweest, 'concludeerde hij.

Met betrekking tot oproepen tot een onafhankelijk onderzoek naar dit examen, stond Ouahbi erop dat, aangezien een commissie toezicht hield op het correctie- en beoordelingsproces, "ik vertrouw ze, waarom zou ik een onderzoek openen?"

Wat zijn eigen zoon betreft, was de minister standvastig en handhaaft hij het meritocratie-argument door te zeggen: "Mijn zoon heeft twee bachelors behaald in Montreal, Canada."

**NGO's, parlement en maatschappelijke organisaties laten zich horen**

Na de dagenlange controverse riep het Marokkaans Democratisch Forum voor Recht en Rechtvaardigheid het Openbaar Ministerie en de Hoge Raad voor de Rechtspraak (CSPJ) op om een ​​“serieus en verantwoordelijk” onderzoek naar de zaak te openen, in de praktijk van zijn “morele en wettelijke verantwoordelijkheid.”

De ngo riep op tot het "ontslaan van de minister van Justitie" en eiste dat de instantie hem verantwoordelijk zou houden voor dit schandaal.

Fatima-Tamni, parlementslid van de Federatie van Democratisch Links (FGD), heeft dinsdag een schriftelijke vraag gestuurd aan minister Ouahbi, met het verzoek om opheldering over de vermeende discrepanties die van invloed waren op het balie-examen.

In haar vraag verwees ze naar “het wanbeheer van de schriftelijke test”, waarmee ze haar verbazing uitsprak over “de deelname van de Marokkaanse Orde van Advocaten aan het proces van automatische correctie van de schriftelijke test”.

De gekozen functionaris wees bovendien op de aanwezigheid van veel succesvolle studentennamen op de lijst, die zijn onthuld als "familieleden van hoge ambtenaren van het ministerie van Justitie, voorzitters van balies en andere prominente persoonlijkheden op gerechtelijk gebied".

De plaatsvervangend ondervroeg de minister over "de maatregelen die hij van plan is te nemen om pogingen om dit nobele beroep te monopoliseren te corrigeren" en om "degenen die het recht op examens hebben ontnomen met gelijke en eerlijke kansen te compenseren".


https://en.hespress.com/56307-minist...m-results.html

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Campaign Calls for Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi to Resign

The online campaign comes days after Ouahbi refused to take action to address allegations of nepotism in the bar exam.

Jihane Rahhou Jan. 08, 2023 5:19 p.m.

Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi

Rabat - Days after the bar exam fiasco following alleged “rigged” results, Moroccans are now taking to social media calling for Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi to step down as justice minister.

The hashtag #استقالة_وهبي_مطلب_شعبي (Arabic for Ouahbi resignation is a public demand) is taking the internet by storm. Social media users in Morocco are using the hashtag to express their indignation at the minister’s refusal to take action in the wake of the bar exam results which many believe to be “rigged.”

One Twitter user wrote: “We are not against the success of your son or anyone else, whoever it may be, but for you to come out with such a reaction when you are the Minister of Justice.”

In the same Tweet the user denounced the classist remark that the minister made: “Whatever the provocation of the journalist, it is unacceptable because it perpetuates classism and social injustice! We don't care about apologies, we are not emotional, we want to open an investigation and re-correct everyone who rejected the result!”

#استقالة_وهبي_مطلب_شعبي
لسنا ضد نجاح ولدك أو غيره كائنا من كان، و لكن أن تخرج بردة فعل كهذه و أنت وزير العدل مهما كان استفزاز الصحفي فهي غير مقبولة لأنها تكرس للطبقية و اللاعدالة الاجتماعية!
لا يهمنا الاعتذار فنحن لسنا عاطفيين، نريد فتح تحقيق و اعادة التصحيح لكل من رفض النتيجة! pic.twitter.com/HiapLE7Og9
— ⵀⴰⵏⴰ ����هناء ���� (@HanaeEster) January 5, 2023

The tweet refers to the minister’s statement commenting on the bar exam when the minister shrugged off the allegations, further fueling a new wave of uproar.

In a statement to journalists on Monday, Ouahbi said that those who passed the exam “are also citizens.”
The list of candidates who passed the exam seems to have a large number of names belonging to some of the most famous lawyering and affluent families in Morocco, as many social media users have observed.

While dismissing the nepotism allegations as unfounded, Ouahbi added that the case does not deserve a proper criminal investigation. “This is not a crime for me to open an investigation. I trust the committee. Should I open an investigation just because someone sitting in a cafe asked me to?” he said.

The exam was “corrected by machines and not people,” he explained. “Do they want to publish the list of those who failed, passed, and the grades with names and numbers? Do they want to see the machines that corrected the exams?”

His statement came at a time when many failed candidates have been calling for an independent investigation into the allegations.

Ouahbi’s provocative statement worsened when he was asked to comment on whether his son had also passed the exam.

“My son has two bachelor's degrees from Montreal… His father is rich and paid for his education abroad,” the minister responded angrily. Many Moroccans took offense at the minister’s statement saying that it undermines the national education system and the millions of hardworking students who come from disadvantaged social backgrounds.

Following the nationwide backlash that his statement triggered, Ouahbi spoke to Morocco’s state-owned TV channel SNRTNews, saying that he was sorry “if his statement was misinterpreted.”

The minister blamed the media for misinterpreting his comments saying: “If some journalists manipulated or edited videos to manipulate what I have said, those who listen should be reasonable,” he explained.

On a concluding note, “I apologize to the Moroccan university and to the professors who taught me,” he reasoned.


https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/NaN...ahbi-to-resign

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After the government, Ouahbi released by the PAM

Wednesday, January 18, 2023



While the government has so far keep your distance” with the scandal of the written examination of aptitude for the exercise of the profession of lawyer, involving the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, the party headed by the latter, the PAM, has in a way done the same.

During a meeting held on Monday evening, the political bureau of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), did not express its ” solidarity » with its secretary general, tainted and its department of Justice, in the scandal of the results of written examination of aptitude to the exercise of the profession of lawyer.

Indeed, in a press release, the political office of the PAM has “ condemned the relentless campaign whose party leadership is exposed from time to time, and which is carried out “, according to them, ” by opponents and certain known and unknown parties who use vile and immoral methods “.

Without citing the Ouahbi affair, the political office of the PAM continued that this ” fierce campaigning has ranged from discussing the decisions and actions taken by party ministers in the areas they oversee, to invading their privacy, insulting and defaming their family members , and settling narrow political scores by spreading rumors (…) and lies about the unity of the party and the consistency of its leadership and bases “.

Thus, the political office of the WFP affirmed in its press release its “ absolute solidarity with the leaders of the party”without quoting the SG of the party in particular, noting that “ these tendentious campaigns will not discourage them from implementing the reforms that are in the interest of the citizens “.

If the political bureau of the PAM did not cite the scandal of Ouahbi and the examination of the lawyers, it is because it is not about the first affair which affects the leaders of the party. Indeed, the Minister of Youth, Mehdi Bensaid, was affected by the affair of the rapper El Grande Toto, Abdellattif Miraoui, Minister of Higher Education, was strongly criticized for his management of the sector, in particular the file of Moroccan students from Ukraine.

As for the government, it is radio silence. Mustapha Baitas, government spokesman, twice avoided answering questions related to the Minister of Justice during the press conference after the Council of the Government, specifying that the case concerns the Ministry of Justice. Justice …


https://www.moroccolatestnews.com/20...ed-by-pam.html

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HESPRESS English – Morocco News

Law students file complaint with public prosecutor, request investigation on bar exam



Hiba El Bouchtaoui Saturday 21 January 2023 - 21:03

Law students who failed the bar exam to determine their eligibility to practice law in Morocco filed a complaint on Friday with the Public Prosecutor of the King at the Court of Cassation in Rabat, requesting that an investigation be opened into the exam’s results, amid ongoing controversy.

Members of the “Coordination of Failed Candidates” filed the complaint, alleging irregularities in the bar exam, as well as allegations of clientelism and nepotism and possible conflicts of interest.

“Just like my fellow lawyers, we decided to take legal and judicial proceedings to take back our stripped right to pass the bar exam and its marred results that voiced out favoritism,” Abdenasser, a law student studying for a master’s degree in political science with a bachelor’s degree in public law told Hespress.

Law students who filed the complaint claimed that it was unreasonable for them to have failed because it took them two years to study for the exam.

Another law student who chose not to disclose her name told Herpress “As parliamentary Bouaida mentioned, there are law professors who also failed the exam. How can a college professor that actually teaches law fail the bar exam?”

The bar exam controversy has seen a lot of development in January.

Abdelatif Ouahbi, Morocco’s minister of justice, has been embroiled in a storm of controversy ever since the list of candidates who passed the country’s national bar exam was made public earlier this month. He further fuelled the fire by telling the press that his son earned two degrees in Canada because his father is wealthy.

The minister’s son and close relatives successfully passed the written bar exam.

As a first reaction to the public outrage, Ouhbi said to the press that “If they want me to publish the full list of those who passed and those who failed, I will publish it with names,” he said, implying that fraud was impossible considering the correction was automated.

A few days after this, the Moroccan Democratic Forum for Law and Equity called on the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ) to open a “serious and responsible” investigation on the matter, in the practice of its “moral and legal responsibility.”

By the ninth of January, the Minister of Justice defended the “transparency” of the national bar exam on Sunday, during his appearance on a TV program on the national 2M channel maintaining his position on this.

Ouahbi said that “There was no clientelism,” and that the exam was supervised by a committee composed of several people.

He also defended the success of some students, who were revealed to be the sons and daughters of powerful people in politics and the law sector.

“These people have been surrounded by the legal profession since they were children“ argued the Minister, giving an example of his own son, who also passed the bar exam.

Ouahbi then went on to deny fake news that has been circulating since the outbreak of the exam controversy, assuring he is not leaving the government and remains PAM Secretary General.


https://en.hespress.com/57310-law-st...-bar-exam.html

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Morocco’s Justice Minister Sues Candidate Who Failed Bar Exam

Several Moroccans have expressed nepotism suspicions regarding the latest bar exam.

Sara Zouiten Jan. 24, 2023 3:45 p.m.

Morocco's Minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi

Rabat - Morocco’s Minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi has announced filing a lawsuit against a law student who failed the Moroccan bar exam, for claiming that he passed the examination and that another candidate, who did not take the test, was given his spot.

Ouahbi made the statement on Tuesday in a press conference in the wake of the bar exam controversy. Earlier this month, many Moroccans expressed concerns of favoritism and nepotism over the results of the examination, which took place in late 2022.

The Moroccan minister claimed that said candidate registered twice for the examination, the first time using his correct Identity Card number, and the second time changing his ID number by one character.

Once the exam committee realized that the same candidate had registered twice, they blocked one of his applications and kept the second one, allowing him to sit the exam, Ouahbi claimed.

The minister disclosed the two candidates’ exam papers during the press conference, as well as the exam’s attendance register containing both their signatures. He argued that both candidates took the exam and one of them deservedly passed.

Ouahbi vowed that his ministry will “refer the matter to the Public Prosecution Office and let it take the decision it deems appropriate.”

He explained that the candidate is facing two charges, including using an incorrect ID number, which is considered forgery under Moroccan law. The second charge concerns statements the candidate made, in which he “attacked” employees of the Moroccan Justice Ministry.

The concerned candidate came forward earlier this month after the list of candidates who passed the bar exam surfaced on the internet, saying that the list featured his exam number under another candidate’s name.

This candidate was not the only one who voiced such criticism against the latest bar exam, as many candidates and law students questioned the authenticity of the bar exam’s results.

In addition, Ouahbi’s dismissive statements on the nepotism controversy only made matters worse, with many Moroccan social media users demanding that the minister step down from his position.

Others took to the streets to condemn and protest the results, and demanded authorities open an investigation into the matter.


https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/NaN...ailed-bar-exam

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