Informed sources told Hespress that leaks from reports prepared by inspection committees of the regional audit councils in the regions of Casablanca-Settat, Rabat-Salé-Kenitra, Marrakech-Safi and Fez-Meknes revealed the involvement of local authorities in “family deals,” after presidents and elected officials violated the provisions of the Organic Law of Local Authorities 113.14 and the circular of the Minister of the Interior regarding conflict of interest, by awarding deals to companies established in the names of children, spouses and relatives.
The same sources confirmed that during inspection missions that included dozens of groups, the judges of accounts monitored suspicious financial transactions of companies that had won tailor-made deals, which raised the suspicions of the inspection committees, especially with regard to the relationship of the owners of these companies with the heads of territorial groups, where a discrepancy was documented between the signatures of the managing directors and the original owners, in addition to manipulations in management, specifically with regard to transfers recorded in accounts that violated the requirements in force in dealing between banks and companies.
The same sources stated that the reports included important observations regarding the awarding of collective contracts to companies that do not possess the most basic components of a legal entity, after it became clear that some groups had dealt for decades with a single company, and that some presidents had established companies in the names of their children and spouses to circumvent the controls of “conflict of interest”, and also for the purpose of real estate speculation without falling under suspicion of exploiting influence.
The inspection committees of the regional audit councils have completed the audit of the files of elected councils suspected of violating the provisions of a circular issued by the local finance department of the General Directorate of Local Authorities addressed to governors and prefects regarding the system for qualifying and classifying construction and public works companies, and bearing the signature of Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit under number 2590.
The relevant councils were implicated in failing to enforce the qualification certificate required by the supervisory authorities before the bid opening process, and in allowing the participation of companies lacking the necessary guarantees. This opened the door to the use of shell companies operating through subcontracting in all awarded contracts. Furthermore, some local authorities failed to adhere to the aforementioned requirements when awarding contracts through calls for tenders for royal projects falling under the strategic plan for integrated and sustainable development, aimed at upgrading the road network.
According to the newspaper's sources, the tasks of the accountants' judges extended to auditing the expenses and financial appropriations allocated for operating and equipment expenses, study deals, equipment acquisition, general administration invoices, fuel, car parks, routine repair and maintenance deals, as well as telephone, water, electricity network invoices, information and technical equipment, in addition to the cleaning sector deals, especially those that the supervisory authority (workers) refused to approve definitively, due to their high financial cost compared to the volume of services provided.
According to Hespress sources, the inspection committees included in their reports additional observations of no less importance regarding the disregard by the heads of local authorities for the Interior Minister’s circulars on adopting austerity and caution in managing budgets to confront the current crisis and its negative effects on the finances of local authorities. They emphasized that the aforementioned circulars focused on directing local authorities to prioritize mandatory expenditures, particularly those related to salaries and fixed allowances for official employees and their counterparts, wages of temporary staff and similar allowances, and expenditures related to water, electricity and communications bills, rent payments, and loan repayments.
