The Jacques Bouthier affair continues to experience twists and turns, even on the other side of the Mediterranean.

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 and several of his collaborators, according to a lawyer for the Moroccan complainants.

The French accused was placed in pre-trial detention on Saturday after a 48-hour police custody, said Sunday Me Aïcha El Guella, president of the Moroccan Association for the Rights of Victims (AMDV).

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.

Six people under arrest warrant

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 brokerage group Assu 2000 (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.

Already seven complaints in Morocco

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.

Many counts

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.

Company

Sexual harassment: The ex-CEO of Assu 2000 Jacques Bouthier targeted by a new complaint in Morocco

Justice

Sexual violence: Four women file a complaint in Morocco against the ex-CEO of Assu 2000

  • Justice

  • Morocco

  • Jacques Bouthier

  • Violence against women

  • Sexual violence

  • Rape