New elements in the Jacques Bouthier case. Indicted last May in Paris following a preliminary investigation opened in mid-March, with five other people, in particular for human trafficking and rape of a minor, the rich 75-year-old businessman and his employees are the subject of a new complaint filed in Morocco for “sexual harassment”, the plaintiffs’ lawyers announced on Saturday.
“In total, seven complaints have been filed against Bouthier and his accomplices. The victims have decided to break the law of silence and others will also follow,” Me Abdelfattah Zahrach told AFP during a press conference in Tangier. So far, six Moroccan women had filed a complaint. According to Aïcha El Guella, lawyer and president of the Moroccan Association for Victims’ Rights (AMDV), “a seventh suspect of French nationality has been placed in police custody”.
“An organized criminal gang”
“It will be presented during the day before the king’s attorney general”, added this Saturday the one who organized the press conference. On July 6, five employees of Mr. Bouthier were detained following complaints from former employees of branches of the Assu 2000 group (renamed Vilavi) in Tangier (north). A sixth accused was released.
They are notably accused of “trafficking in human beings”, “sexual harassment”, “indecent assault” and “verbal and moral violence”, according to the lawyers for the complainants. The alleged facts occurred between 2018 and April 2022 in Moroccan subsidiaries of the brokerage giant in France. “Jacques Bouthier and his collaborators are in fact an organized criminal gang,” Me El Guella said on Saturday. The ongoing investigation “will reveal other victims and other accomplices”, she assured.
“The nightmare continues, they threatened us”
Several complainants reported systematic sexual harassment, threats and intimidation within the French company in Tangier. During the press conference, the young women – testifying on condition of anonymity, their identity protected by dark glasses – denounced a “campaign of intimidation in the media and on social networks” led by “the Bouthier clan “: “The nightmare continues, they threatened us, insulted us and even tried to bribe us but without success! »