Legislation: Morocco ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption in May 2007. However, Morocco is the only African country not to have signed the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. Articles 241 to 256 of the Criminal Code criminalise corruption, both active and passive, and punishments range from fines to jail sentences. Attempted corruption, extortion, bribing a foreign public official and abuse of office are also criminalised. Morocco criminalised money laundering in May 2007 under the AML Law No. 43-05 (in French). It covers concealing and altering goods originating from trafficking, corruption, extortion, influence peddling and misappropriation of public and private property. The law provides for the establishment of the Processing Unit of Financial Intelligence. According to a July 2010 article by Magharebia, citing a 2010 report by the Central Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (ICPC), Morocco's anti-corruption legislation has a number of loopholes. For example, according to the report, the attempt to engage in acts of corruption is not seen as a criminal offence by the law. The report also criticises a lack of legal protection for whistle-blowers. Furthermore, there allegedly exists no legislative framework to guarantee access to information. Another problem concerns the fact that the electoral code does not oblige parliamentary candidates to present a list of expenditures to the verification board, and does not require the board to publish its report. Also, the ICPC argues that legislation on the declaration of assets remains incomplete; reportedly, the law does not stipulate any obligation to declare the assets of immediate family members. The ICPC report recommends adoption of an overall anti-corruption strategy that includes more than just punitive measures, according to Magharebia. Also a May 2009 Working Paper by the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID) offers an evaluation of the Moroccan legal anti-corruption framework. According to this report, Morocco's adoption of anti-corruption legislation lags behind many other countries, both Arab and non-Arab, and the country needs to modernise its criminal, civil and administrative codes. The decree on the ICPC is seen by the ODID as a step in the right direction, even though further amendments to the decree are needed and would eventually make the agency more effective by providing it with the power to conduct performance and compliance audits. On 2 April, a committee of ministers presided over by the King approved a draft law to protect whistleblowers and victims of corruption by public officials, as reported by an April 2011 article by Agence France-Presse. This move is seen as a direct response to the public protests and discontent with corruption, which have been sweeping the North African region since January 2011. Access the Lexadin World Law Guide for a collection of legislation in Morocco. 

Government Strategies: The Moroccan government drafted a national cross-sector action plan to combat corruption in 2005. The action plan outlines 6 focus areas of intervention, namely the anchoring of anti-corruption values and norms in society, the institutionalisation of the strategy of prevention, strengthening transparency in public procurement, strengthening of control and auditing mechanisms, simplifying the administrative procedures, and finally awareness raising. Access the website (in French) of the Ministry of the Public Sector Modernisation for more information. The action plan has incorporated many demands from civil society, notably from Transparency Maroc, and the action plan in itself has been praised by observers. And while for instance administrative procedures have in some cases been simplified, the implementation of the action plan is still lagging behind in many other areas. In mid-October 2010, the Moroccan government unveiled a two-year anti-corruption plan, which includes over 40 new anti-graft measures, as reported in a 2010 article by Reuters Africa. According to the article, these measures include asset declarations for top state officials, government protection of whistle-blowers, anti-corruption classes in schools and channels for the public to report graft and extortion by government officials. The plan has been criticised by Transparency Maroc, however, pointing to the fact that the government has not involved the ideas and views of business and civil society in the plan.

Anti-Corruption Agencies: In late 2008, the government established the Central Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (ICPC). The ICPC has been criticised by observers for having a mandate which limits itself to corruption prevention and is therefore not in a position to receive or act on complaints. Moreover, the ICPC is subject to political influence given that the chairman is appointed by the King and that the agency belongs under the Prime Minister. Transparency International states in the National Integrity System Morocco 2009 (in French) that due to the lack of independence and investigative powers, the ICPC is merely, a consultative institution with a responsibility of raising awareness about corruption and gathering information. In July 2009, the ICPC released its first report, stating that it had received 21 valid corruption complaints, according to the US Department of State 2009. Investigations into these corruption matters continue. According to the report, officials attributed the low number of complaints partially to the lack of legislation protecting plaintiffs and witnesses in corruption cases.

Processing Unit of Financial Intelligence (UTRF): The Moroccan FIU was established in April 2009 as provided by the law on money laundering and was operational six months later. The UTRF is entitled to collect financial information and coordinate the means of action of investigating authorities and public agencies as well as advising the government and proposing reforms with regard to anti-money laundering. The UTRF is working towards obtaining membership of the Egmont Group, an international network of FIUs, in 2011.

General Inspection of Finances (IGF): The IGF was established by law in 1960. The IGF conducts audit and oversight of the activities of the public institutions and funds received from international donors. The IGF, which is placed within the Ministry of Finance, conducts investigations and publishes reports.

Audit Court (al Majlis al A'laa lil Hissabaat): The Audit Court was established by law in 1979 and was given the status of a constitutional body in 1996. The Audit Court assists Parliament and assesses local, regional and national accounts. It publishes and presents annual reports to the King and the reports' conclusions are widely published in the media. However, as evaluated by Global Integrity 2008, audit reports are not always acted on by the government. Furthermore, appointments to the Audit Court do not fully support its independence - they may sometimes be made based on political considerations, and appointed individuals may have clear professional loyalties. In 2008, the Audit Court conducted 245 audits of national government offices and services and 198 of local authorities. The court's report was generally critical of the level of accountability and corruption in government services, according to the US Department of State 2009. The report levied specific criticism against the Ministry of Health, the National Investment and Development Fund, and several local mayors for being involved in rampant corruption. As a result, the government investigated the mayor of Meknes on charges of mismanaging funds, resulting in his removal from office in January 2009, according to the US Department of State 2009.

Office of the Ombudsman (Diwan Al Madhalim): Morocco has an Ombudsman institution which was set up by royal decree no. 1-01-298 of December 2001. The institution is in charge of overseeing the actions of the Moroccan administration and working for the rule of law. Transparency International assesses in the National Integrity System Morocco 2009 (in French) that the institution has a certain impact on the fight against corruption with regard to identifying corruption risks and proposing measures for improvement. According to Global Integrity 2008, the Ombudsman is sometimes influenced by political and personal incentives, such as personal and professional loyalties, but also possibly some abuses of power. Moreover, according to the report, the appointments are sometimes made based on political considerations, and appointed individuals may sometimes have clear professional loyalties.

Ethical Customs Observatory/Private Sector (in French): The Observatory was established in January 2010 as a public-private cooperation between the customs administration, the ICPC, the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), Association of Freight Forwarding in Customs (ATADM) and Transparency Maroc with the aim of analysing the compliance of the customs and private enterprises with ethical principles and presenting proposals for reforms that will enhance transparency and help to fight corruption within the customs. The Observatory issues annual reports on the results of its work.

E-Governance: A wide range of government services can be accessed online. The Administration of Customs and Indirect Taxes (in French), the National Fund for Social Security (CNSS, in French), the Office for Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC, in French), the Directorate for Investment (in French), Public Procurement (in French), the Ministry for Modernisation of the Public Sectors (in Arabic), the Secretariat General of Government (in French and Arabic), and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (in French) all offer online services to individuals and companies.

Public Procurement: The Public Procurement Decree which was passed in December 1998 to improve the bidding and audit procedures for public contracts has been replaced by Decree 2-06-388 of February 2007 which addresses some of the loopholes in the former decree. The decree aims at establishing transparency in the procurement system and introduces measures to reduce fraud and corruption. Transparency International 2009 notes that the decree could be improved by making it more precise, for example could establishing procedures be added, thus making statements of principle more concrete. According to the Public Procurement Decree, major procurements do not require competitive bidding, but strict formal requirements limit the extent of sole sourcing. In law, unsuccessful bidders can instigate an official review of procurement decisions, and they can challenge the concrete procurement decision in court. Generally, the effectiveness of the decree on procurement could be questioned, since companies guilty of major violations of procurement regulations are in practice not prohibited from participating in future procurement bids, according to Global Integrity 2008. Access the Portal for Public Procurement (in French) for information concerning tenders.

Whistle-Blowing: In spite of a comprehensive regulatory framework of anti-corruption laws, legal protection is absent for whistleblowers, anti-corruption activists and investigators who report cases of bribery and corruption, especially at the higher levels in the hierarchy. The higher the level a whistleblower takes action against in the hierarchy, the lower the chances of their security being protected. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010, whistleblowers in the army who exposed corrupt practices of higher-level officers were prosecuted and given heavy prison sentences. Global Integrity 2008 assesses Morocco's whistle-blowing measures to be 'very weak'.

General Comments on the Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives: Morocco's auditing bodies have been praised by foreign observers as independent and professional, yet there is not enough follow-up on the reports published by the General Inspection of Finances, which also lacks sufficient funding. Furthermore, critics have pointed to the lack of independence of the Central Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, unable to launch investigations or prosecutions without the consent of the Prime Minister. Nevertheless, the government's adoption of the two-year anti-corruption plan, containing a range of new anti-graft measures, is a positive step although it has been criticised for not engaging business and civil society.