HIBAPRESS – c. Mahyaoui
The Criminal Chamber of First Instance in charge of financial crimes at the Court of Appeal in Fez issued a ruling on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, acquitting the head of the Isly commune, affiliated with the Oujda-Angad prefecture, of the charges against him related to embezzlement and squandering of public funds.
The judicial body, chaired by Counselor Mohammed Lahya, decided not to hold the communal official accountable for what was attributed to him, with the costs to be borne by the general treasury, after studying the case file and discussing the various data related to it during the trial sessions. The details of this case date back to last October, when the investigating judge in the first chamber decided to refer the file of the head of the Isly commune, who belongs to the Authenticity and Modernity Party, to the Criminal Chamber specialized in financial crimes at the Court of Appeal in Fez, against the backdrop of his being prosecuted on charges of embezzlement and squandering of public funds. With the issuance of the initial acquittal ruling, the court has concluded the first stage of litigation in this case, which has attracted attention from those following local affairs in the Oriental region. In a related context, the data indicates that the head of the Isly commune is still facing legal proceedings in another separate file related to the suspicion of money laundering, currently before the competent chamber of the Court of First Instance in Fez, where the investigating judge in the third chamber decided to prosecute him in this case, the judicial stages of which are still ongoing pending the outcome of the upcoming sessions.
