The Bouthier affair is gaining momentum in Morocco. Two men were indicted there as part of the sexual harassment investigation targeting the former CEO of the French group Assu 2000, Jacques Bouthier, and several of his collaborators, a lawyer for the Moroccan complainants announced on Sunday July 17.
One of the two men indicted, a Frenchman, was remanded in custody on Saturday after 48 hours in police custody, according to Aïcha El Guella, president of the Moroccan Association for Victims’ Rights. The other accused, a Moroccan, 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. However, he was released, added the lawyer.
These decisions bring to eight the number of people indicted after complaints from former employees of the Assu 2000 brokerage group. They are accused of “human trafficking”, “sexual harassment”, “indecent assault” and “verbal abuse”. and morals”. Six of them were placed under arrest warrant and two others released. Two French and six Moroccans including two women are implicated. The alleged facts took place between 2018 and April 2022 in the Moroccan subsidiary of Assu2000 in Tangier.
A total of seven complaints were filed against Jacques Bouthier and executives of his company and “others will follow”, assured Saturday Abdelfattah Zahrach, another lawyer, during a press conference. 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”.
Aged 75, Jacques Bouthier, one of the great French fortunes, 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.