By Sana Elouazi

Rabat – Following the sacking wave that took down ministers, governors and government officials by order of king Mohammed VI, about 300 Moroccan high officials were banned from leaving the national territory, reported the daily Assabah in its December 26 edition.

In the past few months, hundreds of officials were sacked by the King after he received a report from the Court of Auditors, headed by Driss Jettou, revealing embezzlement of public money and budgets of social projects.

The Court of Auditors will be keeping a watchful eye on officials who collected suspicious amounts of money in a short term of time, added the daily.

Among those sacked are 180 public and government officials, including six secretaries general, the former wali of Marrakech Abdelfettah El Bjioui, and six governors.

According to the daily, the ban on travel would be lifted only after the conclusions of the disciplinary committee chaired by the wali and Director General of Internal Affairs of the Central Administration (DGA), Driss El Jaouhari.

The first meeting of the committee took place on Monday, December 25 after Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit appointed its members.

The newspaper added that during this week, the committee will proceed to hear El Bjioui in addition to six governors, who were sanctioned following the “political earthquake” that has shaken them from their positions.

According to the daily’s sources, officials cleared of the charges are unlikely to return to their previous positions and functions. However, they could be assigned other functions.

The dismissal of officials started in November, when King Mohammed VI ordered the sacking of three ministers and two high officials over the dysfunctions in the Al Hoceima development projects.

The first dismissed bodies have not received any sort of penalty. The second sacking wave took place on December 11, taking down 180 public and government bodies, including six secretaries general, a wali, and six governors.

On December 15, Assabah reported that several members of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) members are among people to be sacked in the third round of dismissals.

Presidents of regions and municipalities are also included in the list, as they could be responsible for mismanagement and dysfunctions in tackling projects. Subsequently, those government and public officials will be held accountable for their charges, added the newspaper.