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Kenitra Real Estate Probe: $400,000 Missing from Municipal Land Deal
Friday 24 November 2023, by
The Rabat Court of Appeal has opened an investigation into the disappearance of more than 4 million dirhams in Kenitra. This sum evaporated during the term of the former president of the municipal council and former minister Aziz Rabbah, following a real estate transaction involving the exchange of a municipal land for another belonging to a real estate developer.
The file, initially investigated by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ), was transferred to the investigating judge by the deputy prosecutor of the King in charge of financial crimes, reports the daily Al Akhbar.
The scandal, which dates back to the period when the municipal council was led by the PJD, was recently revealed by Ahmed Sayed, a human rights activist. Sayed, who had filed a complaint, was heard by the magistrate, as were two deputies of the former president Aziz Rabbah. Anas Bouanani, the current president of the council, did not appear for the hearing despite being summoned. The case concerns negligence in the recovery of a significant sum from the sale of a 1,280 m² plot of land located in the city center.
The city council had validated the exchange of a plot of land in the city center for a one-hectare plot at the entrance of the city, valued at 1,400 dirhams per square meter, a price considered exorbitant since the real value was estimated at around 700 dh/m². According to sources close to the investigation, the notary, now incarcerated for breach of trust, had handed over a check for 4,080,000 dirhams for this exchange, which later proved to be without provision.