The Court of Accounts of the Kingdom of Morocco exercise, in addition to its control and evaluation functions, jurisdictional powers in matters of verification and judgement of the accounts of public accounts officers and budgetary and financial discipline (BFD). In its public report covering the period from January 2023 to September 2024, the SAI of Morocco reported on these jurisdictional activities.
Regarding the BFD, the report highlights that the exercise of this competence is optimized through the implementation of preventive measures and a coordinated prosecution policy in collaboration with the public prosecutor's office. As a result, referral projects take this policy into account, and the cost of the procedure is evaluated with regard to the associated financial stakes. An assessment of the procedure's capacity to address the identified deficiencies is also conducted compared to other means available to financial jurisdictions under the law.
Furthermore, the report emphasizes that, following observations raised by financial jurisdictions during their non-jurisdictional missions, numerous organizations have proactively taken corrective measures. These aim to strengthen internal control mechanisms and reinforce its fundamental principles, which is an essential condition for improving governance and preventing instances of non-compliance.
Additionally, these actions have had a positive impact on financial, managerial, environmental, and social levels. For instance, financial impacts include the collection of outstanding debts and dues (amounting to 54 million MAD), restoring compliance with contractual commitments (78 million MAD), application of late penalties (6.3 million MAD), reimbursement of unduly paid amounts (820,000 MAD), and the initiation of debt collection procedures for a total amount of approximately 52 million MAD.
On a quantitative level, the number of ongoing cases at the Court of Accounts during the specified period reached a total of 297 cases, of which 86 were judged, resulting in fines totaling more than 5 million MAD and reimbursement rulings for losses suffered by the concerned entities amounting more than 9 million MAD.
In terms of verification, investigation, and judgement of accounts, financial jurisdictions noted that public accounts officers reimbursed amounts exceeding 28 million MAD to the concerned public entities following notifications of observation notes, preliminary rulings, and judgments, even before final decisions were issued. Regarding final rulings and judgments, financial jurisdictions pronounced debits totaling approximately 54.8 million MAD. The discharge rate for public accountants was thus established at 81% of the issued rulings and judgments.
The report further highlights that amendments to the regime of personal and pecuniary liability of public accounts officers have reduced the scope of the judge's control after limiting the accountant's responsibility in verifying the validity of expenditures. These changes, among other reasons, explain the low proportion of pronounced debits related to failures in the expenditure validation process. Other contributing factors include the implementation of IT systems regulating the expenditure execution process, particularly the Integrated Expenditure Management System, as well as the educational impact of the Court’s rulings.
Additionally, in accordance with Articles 111 and 162 of the Financial Jurisdictions Code, the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Accounts has referred 16 cases involving suspected criminal offenses to the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, who is also the Head of the Public Prosecution, for appropriate action in accordance with the applicable legal procedures.
