HIBAPRESS – A. Mahyaoui
The Criminal Chamber of Appeals in charge of adjudicating financial crimes at the Court of Appeal in Fez ruled, this Wednesday afternoon, to uphold the initial ruling acquitting Mohamed Kandil, the head of the Sidi Harazem commune and a parliamentarian for the southern Fez district, of the charges against him in a financial case.
The Appeals Chamber's decision came after an extensive discussion of the various defenses of the defense team and reviewing the file documents, where the court concluded that the actions under prosecution were not proven, considering that the elements of proof were insufficient to convict the accused.
It is worth mentioning that the Primary Court had previously acquitted Mohamed Kandil of all charges against him, a ruling that was appealed by the party concerned by the appeal, before the second-degree court confirmed the validity of the initial ruling in terms of justification and legal classification.
This decision caused relief among the defense of the person concerned, who considered that the ruling enshrines the principle of the presumption of innocence and confirms the independence of the judiciary in dealing with financial crime cases, away from any other considerations.
This ruling is final at the Court of Appeal level, pending whether any other legal procedures will be initiated as permitted by law.
