Ex‑Raja Casablanca President Mohamed Boudrika Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
The Casablanca Criminal Court also ordered Boudrika to pay MAD 664,000 in damages to the victims and barred him from issuing cheques for one year.
Boudrika was found guilty of fraud, forgery, and issuing cheques without sufficient funds. Throughout the trial, he denied all charges, claiming that the investigating judge had relied only on the complainant's statements and had not presented hard evidence, according to reports.
During the final hearing, Boudrika strongly defended himself and insisted there was no proof of wrongdoing aside from verbal allegations.
In July 2024, Boudrika was arrested in Germany under an international warrant and later extradited to Morocco in April 2025, following approval from German authorities.
He faced a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of MAD 232,500 in March 2024, following a case against him in absentia for issuing bad cheques.
He has been held in pretrial detention at Oukacha prison in Casablanca since April 25, 2025.
Charges include issuing bad cheques, fraud, forgery, and using administrative documents illegally.
Born in Casablanca, Boudrika became Raja's president twice, first in 2012-2016, then re-elected in May 2023.
Under his leadership, the club won domestic titles and reached the FIFA Club World Cup final in 2013, defeating international heavyweights.
He was also a member of the Moroccan parliament for the RNI party and served as head of the Mers Sultan district council.
His business ventures include real estate. He briefly left office following a building collapse in 2016 and controversy over selling overpriced World Cup tickets in 2022. After Morocco reached the semifinals, controversy erupted around the allocation of free tickets meant for Moroccan fans.
Instead of being distributed fairly, many tickets allegedly made their way into the hands of private individuals and were resold at inflated prices.
Boudrika, then a member of the Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), was accused of distributing large numbers of tickets to his associates, party members, and close relatives.
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