Moroccan Court Sentences Five in Harhoura Land Fraud Case

After three years of trial, the judgment was handed down in the case of land spoliation in Harhoura. The main defendant, a businessman, was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams, while his assistant was sentenced to five years in prison and the same fine, reports Al Akhbar. Two years in prison and a fine of 1,000 DH for the Commercial Court official, the same sentence (one year in prison and a fine of 1,000 DH) for the former land registry keeper of Harhoura and an accountant.

Three years ago, the main accused managed to obtain a trade register number in the name of the owner of a plot of land, a French citizen who died in 1969. With the complicity of his assistant, a front company had then been created. He became its manager. It took another company filing a complaint for identity theft for the case to come to light. The Consulate General of France in Rabat had also filed a complaint against the main defendant in the case of usurpation of the identity of a French citizen and accused him of forgery of identity documents and French travel documents.

The investigations of the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) proved fruitful. The businessman, his associate, the former land registry keeper of Harhoura, the Commercial Court official and the accountant were arrested. Subsequently, they admitted the facts they were accused of.