CASABLANCA: The former president of Morocco’s most successful football club maintained in court Friday that he legally acquired a villa he is accused of seizing from a convicted Malian drug trafficker dubbed the “Escobar of the Sahara.”
Said Naciri, who was chairman of Casablanca club Wydad AC and president of the city’s prefectural council, is being tried alongside the head of a regional council in eastern Morocco, Abdennabi Bioui, in a vast drug trafficking case related to the jailed kingpin.
Both defendants — former officials of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), a member of the country’s ruling coalition — have been in custody since the end of 2023, and face charges of “possession, marketing, and export of drugs,” as well as corruption and related offenses.
Naciri was accused by the Malian trafficker, Ahmed Ben Brahim, of having wrongfully dispossessed him of a villa in an upscale Casablanca neighborhood, one of Naciri’s lawyers told AFP.
But Naciri denied the allegation in court on Friday, saying he legally purchased the villa though a real estate company in 2017 before finalizing the acquisition in 2019.
“I am taking advantage of my hearing before the court to refute the false allegations being made,” he told the court, presenting documents and testimony that he said supported his version of events.
The trial is the first in Morocco to see prominent political figures accused in a drug trafficking case.
It opened last May, and involves 25 people alleged to have played roles in the trafficking network of Ben Brahim, who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Ben Brahim, whose complaint initiated the proceedings against Naciri and Bioui, accuses the pair of helping him smuggle drugs to elsewhere in North Africa and the Sahel.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 25.

PARIS: Paris St. Germain have already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title with six games to spare but the French champions remain highly motivated as they look to end their campaign unbeaten, coach Luis Enrique said on Friday ahead of a meeting with Le Havre.
PSG, who have 74 points from 28 games, won their fourth straight Ligue 1 title earlier this month and have also reached the Champions League semifinals and French Cup final.
They host relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday and Luis Enrique insisted that his side could not take it easy and let their standards slip if they are to become the first team to win the French top-flight title without tasting defeat.
“We’re preparing for future games in the same way. We can break a record, it’s within the team’s grasp,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“It doesn’t happen very often, and that’s our main motivation. We’re already champions. If you want to play for PSG and be here for many years, you have to play at the highest level at all times.
“Le Havre has a lot at stake. It will be one of the most difficult games of the season.”
PSG play three league games in the span of eight days — taking on Le Havre, Nantes and OGC Nice — before meeting Premier League side Arsenal in a Champions League semifinal first leg at the Emirates Stadium on April 29.
Asked about the possibility of finally ending PSG’s wait for a European Cup, the Spaniard said: “We haven’t achieved our objective yet. Since we arrived, our objective has been to make history.
“To make history, you have to win everything, especially the trophy you all know. We’re going to give everything we’ve got to achieve that. What’s important to me is the road to get there. It depends on us...
“We already played Arsenal at the start of the season. We know who we have to eliminate. They’re one of the best teams in Europe. They’ve developed very well with (Mikel) Arteta, they’re performing very well.”