Benabdallah said the plan includes developing control and internal auditing mechanisms.

By Al-Amin Andalusi, IOL Correspondent

RABAT, April 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Fed up with hollow promises repeatedly broken over the past years, many Moroccans reacted skeptically to a new government anti-corruption plan.

“We are done believing decades-old government pledges with corruption mushrooming day in and day out,” Ali Al-Tawel, a civil servant, told IslamOnline.net.

Nadia, a 27-year-old university graduate still battling for a job years after graduation, could not agree more.

“We keep hearing the same old tune played over and over.

“What happened to the much-publicized anti-corruption law drafted by the government of former premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi?” Nadia asked.

On Wednesday, April 21, the Moroccan government unveiled a new action plan to combat corruption in government bodies.

Communication Minister and government's spokesman, Nabil Benabdallah, said the six-point plan is based on reforming the law on the declaration of property in order to ensure a better respect of the text when an official is appointed to a top position.

The plan also includes enacting the law on money laundering and another on judgment enforcement.

Another measure is the creation of a body in charge of following up corruption cases and the consolidation of transparency in state procurements, as well as developing follow-up, control and internal auditing mechanisms.

Nothing New

The minister also said the government intends to dispense with “ghost employees” who cost the country’s budget millions of dollars every year and do absolutely nothing.

The measure, however, was seen by ordinary Moroccans as not the right answer to the corruption phenomena.

“The ghost employees, whose numbers are estimated at 80,000, are a small part of the problem,” said Nadia.

The government adopted last March 31 the UN convention against corruption, which Morocco had signed in October.

However, rampant corruption in Morocco has left its toll on the investment atmosphere in the Arab country, scaring off many foreign investors.

Many Moroccan recently took to the streets to protest mushrooming corruption in state institutions, including embezzlement of public money.

On April 22, a demonstration was organized by the national body for public money protection outside parliament headquarters to press for the formation of an independent body to investigate corruption cases.

Multi-facet

International organizations report different types of corruption in Morocco, including bribery, money laundering as well as cultivation and trafficking of drugs.

Moroccan newspapers recently reported on smuggling cases across the borders with Algeria which involved senior Moroccan security officers.

They also unveiled the involvement of high-ranking officials in illegal immigration in swap for more than 8,000 US dollars per person.

Worse still, some 115 billion dirhams (13.5 billion US dollars) were embezzled from the social security institution, in one of the major corruption cases in the Arab country.

Almost 100 percent of Moroccans interviewed for the 2004 Arab Development Report believed corruption was rampant in army, traffic police and customs circles.

Some 86.64 percent saw corruption prevailing in government institutions, 32.1 percent in parliament, 18.6 percent in education and 16.2 percent in the judiciary system.