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A Member of Parliament (MP) and a sports journalist have been sentenced by Morocco’s Casablanca Injunction Court for a scandal involving FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tickets.
According to reports, the pair were found guilty for their roles in the manipulation and unauthorised distribution of tickets for the semi-final match between Morocco and France at the Men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year.
National Rally of Independents (RNI) MP Mohamed El Haidaoui, president of Olympique Safi football club and member of the board of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) received a prison sentence of one and a half years. He was also ordered to pay a fine of MAD 2,014,450.10 (£160,000/€186,000/$203,000).
Sports journalist Adel El Omari, host of Morocco-based Radio Mars, was given a 10-month prison sentence and a fine. Further reports said that the journalist’s legal team had initially requested a delay to the proceedings to properly prepare a defence.
In May, Morocco’s National Brigade of the Judicial Police referred the defendants to the public prosecutor at the Casablanca Court of Appeal.
During the investigation, the accused individuals were found to be part of a network that illegally collected the tickets and then sold them for extortionate amounts of money.
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