Salaheddine Mezouar

Salaheddine Mezouar ( – born 11 December 1953, Meknes) is a Moroccan politician and economist who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 October 2013 until 2017.

Career In 2004, Mezouar was appointed Minister of Industry, Trade and Restructuring of the Economy.

On 15 October 2007, he was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance.

In January 2010, he was elected president of the National Rally of Independents party.

In 2016, he served as the president of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP22, when Morocco hosted the event in Marrakesh.

Mezouar is also a former international basketball player.

Treasury controversy In July 2012 Mezouar was involved in a scandal related to wage bonuses along with Noureddine Bensouda, the chief of the Moroccan treasury. Mezouar declared that the bonuses were legal basing the decision on a 1941 decree by the French colonial-head which is still enforced. The French decree allowed such bonuses to be issued for high-ranking employees of the colonial administration.

The two employees who revealed this information, Abdelmajid Louiz and Mohammed Reda, were prosecuted and tried for leaking confidential documents. On 21 March 2013, Louiz was sentenced to two-months suspended prison and a MAD2,000 fine, while Reda was acquitted. However both employees were excluded from their jobs.