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The start of 2020 has seen thousands of individuals and companies sentenced in debt recovery cases processed in a record time by a group of lawyers and a number of financial, insurance, telecommunication and electricity companies at the Casablanca Court of First Instance. These judgments, delivered unbeknownst to convicted debtors, have also affected a number of NGOs, operating in the social and educational fields.
On February 3, at least 484 judgments in favor of Maroc Telecom were delivered, out of 996 cases dealt with at the hearing, presided over that day by Judge Ilham El Barhoumi at the same court. The company was defended by lawyer Jamal Radi. One of these judgments was brought against the Second Chance association, an association based in Casablanca and known for its flagship project, the Second Chance School.
Contacted Thursday by Yabiladi, the NGO says it was not aware of being the subject of a debt recovery judgment brought by Maroc Telecom. «We have never received a bailiff at the premises of our association to deliver a court summon. Also, we know nothing about this judgment and this is the first time we hear about it».
Not-for-profit associations taken by surprise
«We had a lot of technical problems with Maroc Telecom regarding the low speed of one of our two optical fibers, which was linked to a telephone number registered under the name of Second Chance. The operator told us that our line had been cut and we therefore decided to terminate our contract», a member of the association told Yabiladi.
However, ending the contract with the telecommunication operator did not stop it from dragging the association to court over a debt recovery case. The latter was handled by the court without giving the NGO the chance to defend itself.
The Casablanca-based NGO is in fact working on the creation of a bank of local development projects for the training of young people, while allowing them to start over after dropping out of school, through training. Furthermore, it raises awareness on the importance of adopting modernized approaches and mechanisms in social action and local public management, for better development.
The same scenario was repeated with another hearing that took place on February 10. On that day, 447 debt recovery cases on behalf of Maroc Telecom were judged at once among 480 cases dealt with by the same judge in charge of commercial affairs.
One of them was brought against a Casablanca association called Oum El Ghait. The latter operates in the districts of Bernoussi and Sidi Moumen, which are home to slums from where the terrorists of the 2003 and 2007 Casablanca bombings came.
Contacted, Thursday, by Yabiladi, the president of said NGO Amal Kadiri was shocked upon learning that her organization was subjected to a court sentencing without her knowledge. She, however, acknowledged that the NGO has a contract with Maroc Telecom but that she was never notified of a problem. She was astonished to hear that the NGO could have been sentenced without receiving a court summon and without being told about the case in the first place. "I hope you are mistaken, but I will look into it", she said, adding that the NGO has always been paying the bills on time.
There, Oum El Ghait works in the educational and social field, in particular by training educators for preschool. In 2017, the same NGO won the Up International Prize.
Another NGO, Annajm Arriadi, was also the victim of the same practices. The case was brought against the NGO, on February 26, by lawyer Mustapha Jeddad on behalf of Meditelecom which had 163 judgments in its favor by judge Aziz Arsaoui.
Donations from Moroccans diverted to profit
A few days between the filing of complaints and the first hearing, AXA Assurance had verdicts in its favor against two NGOs with the help of lawyer Mohamed Fekhar. It is the Moroccan Association for Support of Children with Speech Difficulties as well as the Muslim Charitable Association of the rural commune Lamzoudia, located in the province of Chichaoua, region of Marrakech.
The associations explained that they did not have the chance to hire a lawyer and attend the hearings. Worse, some convicted parties claim not to have been notified of the summons for the hearing, as other victims told Yabiladi. Contacted last Friday, the litigation departments of the three companies did not answer our calls or did not wish to comment on cases concerning justice.
This denial of justice challenges everyone and spares no one. Are the Moroccans' charity donations intended to fuel an illegal system involving lawyers, clerks, bailiffs, judges and litigators of large companies? Since the investigation of Yabiladi exposed this scandal, the associations knocked down by these court decisions will be able to say: «The sadaka of kind-hearted people has been diverted by big companies displaying their CSR labels».
