This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapress-Rabat-MJ
As part of the efforts made by the Kingdom of Morocco to fight against organized crime, dry up its sources of funding and recover the smuggling assets, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Wahbi, participated in the regional workshop on the theme “Tracking, frost, seizure and confiscation of criminal assets” which was held in Rabat from June 16 to 18, 2025. Allocution in which he highlighted the importance of this theme which responds to the recommendations of the financial action group on the freezing and confiscation of assets and international cooperation in the matter and which is part of the efforts made by countries around the world to develop more effective systems in order to recover smuggling assets and to deprive criminals of forms of funding
The Minister stressed that the mechanisms of seizure, confiscation and freezing of assets are effective mechanisms to continue crime authors, but that they must be implemented in accordance with legal controls and that, in terms of temporary measures, they must provide guarantees to third parties in good faith and protect the objects seized against damage and loss of value. These are challenges that must be met and to which we must find legal and practical solutions in order to overcome them thanks to the establishment of cooperation, coordination, an exchange of experiences and expertise and the dissemination of best practices in this area.
The Minister also pointed out that the Kingdom of Morocco, thanks to the efforts of several national institutions and actors, in particular the national financial information body, and in contact with foreign experiences, has been able to build a distinguished model of international legal and judicial cooperation, both with its Arab and African environment and with the European Union and other countries of the world, both in terms of its involvement in the practices of international conventions relating to the fight against organized crime and Interaction with international mechanisms, as well as the kingdom’s adhesion to the collection networks of assets such as the Regional Network for the Collection of Assets for the Middle East region and North Africa (Menaaren), as well as its participation in international mechanisms for the collection of assets.
In this regard, the Minister explained that the Ministry of Justice has prepared the bill creating the National Agency for the collection and management of seized and confiscated funds and property, which has been prepared to overcome the shortcomings of current practice in terms of surveillance, monitoring, seizure, management and confiscation of criminal products, to achieve judicial efficiency by reducing the burden of judicial authorities Centrally managing the funds and property seized, confiscated or subject to other criminal precautionary measures such as arrest and frost, in a way that takes into account the possibility of international cooperation in this area, while providing a database on the offense of money laundering.
In this context, the Minister stressed that “the decisive confrontation of the money laundering crime can only be carried out through the exchange of experiences between countries and the establishment of cooperation between the various judicial, executive and legislative authorities in order to unify the procedures and procedures which facilitate control, hunting and confiscation of illicit fund movements, within the framework of a constructive participative approach to A more effective regional cooperation to curb this cross-border crime, which will help promote development in the various sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region. »»
