Two men, a Frenchman and a Moroccan, have been indicted in Morocco as part of the sexual harassment investigation targeting the former CEO of the French group Assu 2000, Jacques Bouthier and several of his collaborators, according to a lawyer from the Moroccan plaintiffs. The French accused was placed in pre-trial detention on Saturday after 48 hours of police custody, Me Aïcha El Guella, president of the Moroccan Association for Victims’ Rights (AMDV), told AFP on Sunday. The Moroccan defendant was also presented on Saturday before the king’s attorney general in Tangier who brought him before an investigating judge as part of the same investigation, but he was released, added the lawyer.
Several counts
These decisions bring to eight the number of people – two French and six Moroccans, including two women – indicted following complaints from former employees of the Assu 2000 brokerage group (renamed Vilavi) in the northern port city of Morocco. Six of them were placed under arrest warrant and two others released.
They are accused of “human trafficking”, “sexual harassment”, “indecent assault” and “verbal and moral violence”. The alleged facts occurred between 2018 and April 2022 in the Moroccan subsidiary of the French brokerage giant in Tangier.
Seven complaints filed
A total of seven complaints have been filed against Jacques Bouthier and executives of his company and “others will follow”, said Abdelfattah Zahrach, another lawyer, at a press conference on Saturday. Several complainants have already reported systematic sexual harassment, threats and intimidation within Assu 2000 in Tangier, in a climate of social insecurity.
They said they were fired after refusing to “give in to harassment and blackmail” by Jacques Bouthier “and his accomplices” among the French and Moroccan executives of the insurance company based in Tangier. Rare confessions in Morocco where victims of sexual abuse often remain stigmatized by society.
Also prosecuted in France
Aged 75, the businessman, one of the great fortunes of France, was indicted on May 21 in Paris with five other people, in particular for human trafficking and rape of a minor. He is also being prosecuted for criminal conspiracy to commit the crime of kidnapping and kidnapping in an organized gang, as well as possession of child pornography images.
Source: Europe1
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