Two new people were indicted during the investigation into the case of the former CEO of Assu2000. He himself is for the rape of a minor.
‘investigation continues against Jacques Bouthier, ex-French boss accused in particular of rape of a minor. Two men, a Frenchman and a Moroccan have been indicted in Morocco in the case against the former CEO of the French group Assu 2000, according to a lawyer for the Moroccan plaintiffs. The French accused was placed in pre-trial detention on Saturday after 48 hours of police custody, said Sunday to Agence France-Presse M e 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, the lawyer added.
Eight indictments
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. 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.
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.
