Casablanca Court Acquits Two in High-Profile Land Fraud Case

In pre-trial detention since late January for land spoliation and illegal constructions on land belonging to customary communities, the two accused were granted a dismissal. They were arrested after a complaint was filed against Saïd A., accusing him of having illegally sold, in the Ouled Saleh region, a collective land of about two hectares, with a large house and stables.

After hearing the plaintiff and the accused, the elements of the Royal Gendarmerie from the Bouskoura regional command transmitted their report to the competent prosecutor’s office, which dismissed the case. On January 20, 2025, the head of the Ouled Saleh administrative annex filed a complaint with the Attorney General of the King at the Casablanca Criminal Court of First Instance, denouncing the illegal appropriation of land covering an area of 70 hectares, located in the region and belonging to the Moroccan Agency for Logistics Development.

In his complaint, to which he attached several reports, the official also reported the illegal nature of the subdivision and construction carried out on this property. The accused would have received more than 2.2 million dirhams from 29 people to whom he would have sold these plots, the complaint states. The other accused, Mohammed A., would have collected more than 870,000 dirhams from his victims. He had also offered to lease a collective land to a telecommunications company for a period of 15 years renewable, for a monthly rent of 2,500 dirhams.

As part of the investigation conducted under the supervision of the competent prosecutor’s office, the elements of the Royal Gendarmerie of Bouskoura heard 42 victims who acknowledged having purchased these properties from the accused without knowing that they were collective lands. After their hearing on January 24, the two accused admitted the facts, swearing, however, that they were unaware that the sale of collective lands to third parties was illegal. They had been taken into custody the same day for the needs of the investigation, which is ongoing.