Marrakech Notary and Real Estate Executive Jailed for $11 Million Fraud Scheme

In addition to the prison sentence, the two defendants were ordered to jointly pay a total of 114 million dirhams in damages to the civil party. They also received a joint fine of 1 million dirhams to be paid to the company for which the second defendant, the commercial director, worked. The notary will pay the fines with his own financial resources, the court having decided not to activate the notaries’ solidarity fund in this case, reports the Arabic-language daily Assabah.

The exposure of this case follows complaints filed by buyers who wanted to acquire villas, luxury apartments and land from a real estate company as part of a real estate project located in Marrakech and lost nearly 50 million dirhams. A sum that the commercial director of the company is said to have embezzled before disappearing into thin air. Fearing his arrest, he decided to turn himself in to justice. The public prosecutor then orders the opening of an investigation. Based on the results of the investigations carried out by the judicial police and the interrogation of the commercial director, the investigators manage to arrest his accomplice, the notary.

The notary is accused of falsifying an official document reporting the facts of which he certifies the course of events, of fraud, forgery and breach of trust. He also falsified receipts and accounting documents.