France: Moroccan Workers Paid 10,000 Euros to Work

The trial held Tuesday at the Montauban criminal court has shed light on a system of agricultural intermediation described as "well-oiled by the public prosecutor’s office. On the defendants’ bench, Anass El T., 30, and Imane L., 36, are answering charges of the alleged exploitation of 278 undocumented Moroccan workers, resulting in a loss of 800,000 euros in contributions to the Agricultural Social Mutual (MSA).

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The investigation was triggered by a complaint from three Moroccan seasonal workers hired for the melon harvest in Montalzat. Hoping to work legally, they paid approximately 10,000 euros to intermediaries. Upon arrival, their working conditions proved disastrous: a monthly salary of 1,080 euros for six days of work per week, reduced by deductions of 250 euros for housing and 125 euros for a vehicle. Hired late in the season, they found themselves destitute by mid-November, sometimes ending up sleeping on the streets. At the hearing, one of them testified to his distress, reported by La Dépêche: "The 100,000 dirhams… my mother sold her jewelry. I can’t sleep anymore."

Before the judges, the defendants denied the charges. Anass El T., manager of the staffing company A2Sagri, claimed he helped workers for free and never received payments from them, insisting that producers paid him directly. For her part, Imane L. contested having received commissions, although the court president noted a bank account in Morocco containing more than 106,000 euros, fed by substantial transfers corresponding to visa requests. The defendant justified these sums by the presence of sisters in Italy and invoked a translation problem during her police custody confession.

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Denouncing an "exploitation of human misery" and unfair competition, the prosecution requested three years in prison with probation for Anass El T. and one year for Imane L., along with a fifteen-year ban from working in agriculture. The defense, for its part, criticized the absence of the ordering farmers from the hearing and contested the existence of the 278 employees. The civil parties are demanding reimbursement of the sums paid and 8,000 euros in moral damages. The verdict will be delivered on May 19, 2026.