Creation of businesses: Casablanca blocks everything
A group of chartered accountants recently sent a letter (of which L’Economiste has a copy) to the President of the Casablanca Commercial Court, Abdelouahed Seffouri. In their letter, the practitioners complain of the «inconvenience and blackmail they face on a daily basis in the court premises, and more specifically in the trade register department, from certain officials who manipulate appointments obtained via the court interface».
Following this letter, the president of the court apparently decided to freeze the processing of the stock of files submitted under the parallel circuit pending the results of an investigation, the aim being to determine the merits of the professionals’ complaint and to decide on any measures that may be necessary, as the accusations are serious. Nevertheless, the practitioners interviewed by L’Economiste remain skeptical. In fact, this is the first time that professionals have openly attacked a commercial court, alleging «bribes ranging between 500 dirhams (US 50) and 1000 Dirhams (US 100) per case» (according to the letter sent). Surrealistic practices are reported to have taken place within the walls of the court, such as «calling these middlemen by phone to ask them to get in touch with users who have submitted an application, and to propose to them to pay a commission for processing their cases within 30 minutes instead of one or two weeks», the letter states. Some accountants have even tried this experiment to find out for themselves. Sending a letter of protest to the President of the Commercial Court is not the only initiative taken by practitioners to try and change things. They have already written to the President of the Casablanca Commercial Court of Appeal, in his capacity as direct hierarchical superior of the Commercial Registry, but to no avail. This prompted the professionals to appeal to the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General and the President of the Court of Cassation, but to no avail, hence the letter of protest sent to the President of the Commercial Court, with accusations against a dozen officials cited by name in the letter. As a reminder, it is compulsory to go through the Commercial Court in order to carry out a series of business-related formalities, in particular creations of companies (outside the Regional Investment Centers), capital increases, share transfers, minutes of general meetings – in short, all formalities linked to the various phases of a company’s life cycle in general.
Hassan EL ARIF
