The absence of lawyers due to their ongoing strike protesting a new professional law has resulted in the postponement of the trial session for defendants involved in a case concerning allegations of forgery and tax fraud. Notably, this includes ‘Abdelilah.B’, who serves as the president of the regional council of Taza representing the National Rally of Independents party, alongside 11 other individuals, including contractors.
The session, which took place today, Friday, in the misdemeanors chamber of the primary court in Fez, witnessed the defendants asserting their right to have legal representation present. In light of this situation, the judicial body handling the case was compelled to adjourn the proceedings until Friday, July 17, granting time for the defense to attend.
Additionally, the same judicial body has decided to summon the remaining witnesses in this case and to bring the defendants into the courtroom as per their request. Previously, the court had issued a preliminary ruling regarding the temporary release requests made by the defense team for the defendants, which included a relative of the main accused.
The court granted temporary release to defendants ‘Jamal.B’, ‘Abdel Latif.G’, ‘Abdel Latif.A’, and ‘Mohamed.A.B’, along with ‘Hicham.R’, each with a bail set at 30,000 dirhams. Furthermore, the court also ordered the temporary release of defendant ‘Jawad.B’ without bail, while denying the other requests for temporary release and postponing the case to review civil claims.
It is noteworthy that the same judicial body had previously issued a preliminary ruling for the temporary release of defendant ‘Latifa.H’ with a bail of 30,000 dirhams, provided she was not detained for another reason.
The public prosecution at the primary court in Fez has pursued charges against 12 defendants, led by the president of the regional council of Taza, following complaints from 12 victims and testimonies from eight witnesses in the case. According to the details provided in the case file, the public prosecution has charged the main defendant with offenses related to "fraud, forgery in a private document, forgery in a commercial document, knowingly creating certificates that include false information, and tax fraud through the submission of fictitious invoices." In contrast, charges against defendant ‘B.R’ include "fraud, using forged commercial documents, using false and incorrect certificates, and tax fraud through the submission of fictitious invoices."
Defendant ‘B.J’ has been charged with “fraud and forgery in a private document,” while the fourth defendant ‘A.H’ faces accusations of “fraud, forgery in a private document, participation in forgery in a commercial document, knowingly creating certificates that contain false information, and tax fraud through the submission of fictitious invoices.” Defendant ‘H.A’ is charged with “fraud, forgery in commercial documents, knowingly creating certificates that include false information, and tax fraud through the submission of fictitious invoices.”
Regarding defendant ‘H.L’, the public prosecution has charged him with “forgery in a private document, knowingly creating certificates that include false information, participation in fraud, participation in forgery in commercial documents, and participation in tax fraud through the submission of fictitious invoices.” Meanwhile, defendants ‘A.M’ and ‘A.A’ have been jointly charged with “fraud, forgery in commercial documents, knowingly creating certificates that include false information, and tax fraud through the submission of fictitious invoices.” Lastly, defendants ‘M.B’, ‘A.A’, and ‘B.J’ face charges of “fraud, forgery in a private document, knowingly creating a certificate that includes false information,” while ‘A.H’ is charged with offenses related to “fraud, knowingly creating documents that include false information, and forgery in a private document.”
As reported by hespress.com.
