Corruption Scandal Rocks Moroccan Municipality: Officials Accused of Fraud and Document Forgery

The president of the municipality of Lagfaf and the director of municipal services are allegedly involved in a scandal of the transfer of official housing, which has revealed the existence of a corruption network within the civil registry services, according to the newspaper Assabah.

In a letter addressed to the governor of the province of Khouribga, the coordinator of the Human Rights Center revealed some cases of violation of the rules by these unscrupulous agents. He first mentions the case of a municipal employee to whom the director of municipal services allegedly promised to sell the business premises of a municipal property in his capacity as the person responsible for the legalization of signatures and the approval of obligations and contracts. The victim eventually filed a complaint against the director concerned and the mayor of the municipality.

Another case concerns officials who illegally grant certificates of celibacy to married men in order to allow them to take a second wife, without the legally required authorization of the first. The Center also mentions the case of a Moroccan citizen living in Italy, whose birth certificate was falsified for 5,000 dirhams.

To commit their crimes, the accused used a fraudulently obtained stamp from the civil registrar. The latter, after being heard by the BNPJ, was acquitted by the courts.

The local section of the National Human Rights Center has requested that the Ministry of the Interior initiate an investigation commission to look into these shortcomings, which it describes as "very serious".