Martil Municipality Clarifies Dispute Over 18 Fraudulently Acquired Apartments Worth 50 Million Dirhams

The facts date back to 2011. In order to settle a dispute that arose following the violations they had committed by illegally building additional floors in dozens of residences, three real estate companies "Mixta", "Al-Bayt Al-Atik" and "Calaires" had promised to offer 88 apartments worth more than 200 million DH to the municipality of Martil. Only the "Calaires" company did not keep its word. It was supposed to offer 18 apartments to the city. These apartments do not appear on the list of municipal property registered in the land registry as required by law. Hence the existence of a presumed fraud.

In a clarification received by Al Oâmk Al Maghribi, the municipality of Martil explains that it had requested, in 2013, that the land registry register 20 apartments and not 18, but this "request remained unanswered. In addition, the donor did not keep his promises and did not deliver the apartments so that they could be recorded in the registers of municipal property". The Northern Observatory of Human Rights (ONDH), which was behind a recent complaint for "theft and fraud of municipal property" filed with the Attorney General of the King near the Tetouan court, reacted to this clarification. "How could the Calaires company have settled the problem of the illegal construction of floors without keeping its promises and without handing over the donation to the municipality, if there was no obvious collusion and corruption?" the observatory questions in a press release.

The Observatory expresses its surprise at "the inaccuracy of the data provided by the municipality, noting that it is 18 apartments, and not 20 as indicated in municipal decision No. 98/2011 on the basis of correspondence from the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of the Interior. Consequently, the ONDH calls on the Attorney General of the King near the Court of Appeal of Tetouan to also investigate, with the regional director of the land registry of the city of M’diq, given ’the serious accusations made against him by the municipality of Martil, due to the non-registration of the 18 apartments in the name of the municipality in the land registry’".

According to a source close to the case, the governor of M’diq-Fnideq, Yassine Jari, has asked his services to investigate this case.