Fez Land Scandal: Officials Accused of Forging Documents to Steal Agricultural Project

The investigation opened by the judicial police of Fez follows a complaint filed against a senior official of the prefectural council of Fez, a president of a rural municipality, his deputy and a qaïd’s khalifa, for abuse of power and falsification of administrative certificates in order to illegally appropriate a plot of land belonging to a young entrepreneur who planned to develop an agricultural project there, reports Assabah.

The hearing of these elected officials and officials should start at the beginning of the week, the daily newspaper specifies. In his complaint, the young entrepreneur explains that he bought the land in 2019 to launch his agricultural project. But he was surprised to find that an influential member of the Fez prefectural council had appropriated the land by producing "false" documents, including a deed of sale, a certificate of possession, and several administrative certificates issued by a president of a rural municipality and countersigned by his deputy and a representative of the local authorities.

According to the plaintiff, the boundaries of the land indicated in these documents would not be exact. He also points to a document stating that the official had occupied the plot for ten years, while the deed of sale presented is dated 2021. The plaintiff also doubts the authenticity of the mandates established in the name of the heirs of the disputed property, noting that the witnesses cited in the certificate of possession would have retracted their statements.