On Friday, the Casablanca Court of Appeal sentenced plastic surgeon Dr. Hassan Tazi (owner of the Al Chifa clinic in Casablanca) to three years in prison (one suspended), while dropping the charge of human trafficking.
Incarcerated since April 2022, Dr. Tazi has already served his sentence and is preparing to leave prison.
The same court sentenced Tazi’s wife Mounia Benchaqroun to four years in prison, while his brother Abderrazak Tazi got five years.
Z.Z., who self-identified as a “benefactress,” was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in jail, while S.E., who oversaw the accounting department, was sentenced to four years. A.F. received a verdict of four years in prison, while and F.H. was sentenced to four.
All convicts were fined 20,000 MAD, except for the last accused (F.K.) who paid 10,000 MAD as a fine and received one year suspended sentence.
The criminal charges brought against the individuals include forming and organizing a gang, fraud and human trafficking which was later dropped.
Investigations had revealed that the accused were collecting money from donors and benefactors under the guise of paying for the hospitalization of poor patients. The modus operandi was taking pictures of the destitute beneficiaries and using them by playing the emotions card to collect large donations, usually producing falsified, inflated clinic invoices and false medical reports. They mostly used the name of the surgeon as a cover-up.