Former president of Moroccan football club gets five-year sentence for fraud

Mohamed Boudrika, a parliamentarian who was president of Raja Casablanca football club between 2012 and 2016 has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of fraud, the AFP reports.

According to his lawyer, Boudrika was convicted of fraud, forgery, and writing checks without sufficient funds. He must also pay around $56,000 in compensation to the victims and is banned from issuing checks for a year.

The case stems from a complaint filed by the five children of Boudrika’s late uncle. The accusations center around the unlawful appropriation of inheritance assets, including from underage heirs.

Despite denying the allegations, Boudrika was arrested in Germany last summer on an international warrant and extradited to Morocco in April. He has been in pretrial detention in Casablanca since his return, according to local media.

A real estate investor and a member of the pro-business National Rally of Independents party, Boudrika already faced two major scandals: a deadly building collapse in 2016 and accusations in 2022 of selling World Cup tickets meant to be given free to Moroccan fans.

Instead of distributing the tickets to supporters, Boudrika allegedly gave them to friends, allies, and party members, who resold them at inflated prices.