The case is gaining momentum.

A Frenchman has been indicted as part of a vast investigation in Morocco for sexual harassment targeting the former French boss Jacques Bouthier and several of his collaborators, we learned on Wednesday from the plaintiffs' lawyer.

“This Frenchman was heard on Wednesday by an investigating judge who decided to leave him on bail,” Aïcha El Guella told AFP.

This former employee of one of the Moroccan subsidiaries of the French group Assu 2000 who resides in Morocco will be subject to "judicial control, coupled with the confiscation of his passport and a ban on leaving the territory", specifies the lawyer.

This new indictment brings to nine the number of people – three French and six Moroccans, including two women – presumed to be involved in this case, which was initiated following complaints from former employees of the brokerage group Assu 2000 (renamed Vilavi) in Tangier.

Six of them are thus in pre-trial detention and three others are released.

They are accused of "human trafficking", "sexual harassment", "indecent assault" and "verbal and moral violence".

New hearing on October 6

All were heard Wednesday by the investigating judge who set a new hearing for October 6, according to Me El Guella.

The alleged facts occurred between 2018 and April 2022 in Moroccan branches of the French brokerage giant in Tangier.

A total of seven complaints were filed against Jacques Bouthier and executives of his company.

Several complainants have already reported systematic sexual harassment, threats and intimidation within Assu 2000 in Tangier, in a climate of social insecurity.

Rare confessions in Morocco where victims of sexual abuse often remain stigmatized by society.

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.

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