Individuals and businesses are among the thousands of victims affected by the debt recovery cases, dealt with in an extremely rapid way and unbeknownst to debtors at the Casablanca Court of First Instance. The practices did not exclude small associations and NGOs that help children, young people and people in need.
More than 81,375 recovery cases were handled by a Casablanca court in almost record periods and unbeknownst to debtors. The practices unveiled by Yabiladi are denounced by consumer rights organizations.
In its 2019 country report on human rights practices, the US Department of State referred to the most significant human rights issues in Morocco. Most of them were linked to torture allegations and freedom of speech.
After Yabiladi revealed that thousands of debt recovery cases were being handled in an extremely rapid way and without giving a chance to debtors to defend their cases, the main judges involved in these practices seem to have lowered the pace of their work. Will the new pace remain the same ?
An uproar has started among lawyers, bailiffs, judges and companies involved in the industrialization of justice and the privatization of the Casablanca court of First Instance, simply known now as #MahkamaGate.