Moroccan King\'s cousin denies embezzling public funds

Prince Moulay Hicham Prince Moulay Hicham, the cousin of Moroco's ruling monarch King Mohammed VI, has decided to sue Abdelhadi Khairat, a leading figure in Morocco's Social Union Party, who had earlier accused the Moroccan Prince of stealing public funds, sources close to the prince said to Arabstoday.
The sources added that the prince's lawyers were given the green light to start legal proceedings to file a lawsuit against Khairat for the allegations.
The Moroccan prince issued a statement on Monday in response to Khairat's accusations, in which he said: "The Social Union leader, MP Abdelhadi Khairat has accused me of stealing public funds and smuggling illegal money abroad. This was in a public conference that was covered by several media organisations. Throughout the last decade, I have been exposed to several attempts aimed at questioning my integrity and reputation. I have never filed legal complaints against these allegations as they were said by disreputable sources and journalists who were just serving their political affiliations."
"However, and as this latest accusation was directed by a parliament member, I have decided to send the whole case to the court to reveal whether they are true or just fabricated," he added.
The Prince went on to say that "democracy is based on responsibility and accountability, especially if  we are tackling the deeds and sayings of a parliament member who is supposed to be representing the people, in addition to the fact that he is a leading figure in a deep-rooted political party, the Social Union. So I felt that I have to clear my name before the Moroccan people and the international foundations in which I'm currently serving."
For his part, MP Abdelhadi Khairat has denied that he named Prince Hicham in his comments.
The Moroccan daily al-Sabah has earlier quoted Khairat as saying that he has information about bank loans granted to some Moroccan officials without any guarantees, including Prince Moulay Hicham whom he said was granted 4 billion, although he didn't specify the currency.