The former chairman of Morocco’s most successful football club, Wydad Casablanca, insisted Friday he was innocent of all charges in a high-profile drug trafficking case linked to a jailed kingpin.

Giving evidence for the first time in the trial in which he is one of the two main defendants, Said Naciri vowed to provide proof that he was not guilty.

“I have the evidence to refute all the accusations, I deny them completely,” said Naciri who is also a former leader of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) which is part of the governing coalition.

“I am going to help the court to establish the truth. I have elements which will be essential in resolving this case,” he added, before the trial was adjourned until April 18.

Naciri is being tried alongside another former PAM official, Abdennabi Bioui, for “possession, marketing and export of drugs” and related “corruption”.

Both have been remanded in custody since late 2023.

The charges against them stem from allegations made by jailed Malian drug kingpin Ahmed Ben Brahim, dubbed the “Pablo Escobar of the Sahara”, who is currently serving a 10-year term.

The trial opened in May 2024 with a total of 25 people in the dock.