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Former Casablanca governor acquitted of corruption: source

Other News Materials 16 March 2008 05:31 (UTC +04:00)

( AFP ) - The Moroccan Supreme Court has acquitted a former Casablanca governor who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for abuse of power and misuse of public funds, a judicial source said Saturday.

Abdelaziz Laafoura was arrested in 2004 as part of a corruption scandal involving large property developments in Casablanca.

The case kicked off in 2003 when Swiss investor Jean Victor Lovat filed a complaint against Laafoura and Abdelmoughit Slimani. Slimani, a former mayor of Casablanca, was sentenced on appeal to 16 years in prison.

The two men were close to the former interior minister Driss Basri, dismissed by King Mohammed VI in 1999. They were accused by the country's media with having embezzled millions of dirhams from real estate businesses.

On Friday, the Supreme Court acquitted Laafoura and released assets it had frozen. The decision was based on an article in Moroccan penal law that pertains to high-ranking officials.

Laafoura was previously the governor of the Ain Sbaa-Hay Mohammadi district in Casablanca.

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