Moroccan Expat Arrested at Casablanca Airport in Real Estate Fraud Probe

As he was leaving Morocco for his country of residence, a Moroccan residing in Europe was arrested at the Mohammed V airport in Casablanca by national security agents during his passage through the police checkpoint. He is suspected of being the mastermind of a real estate spoliation network. Targeted by several complaints for forgery and use of forgery, his name is mentioned in several real estate spoliation cases involving properties located in many Moroccan cities, reports Assabah. Some of these false cases have even been brought before the courts, which have ordered the eviction of real estate properties by their residents.

The MRE is accused of real estate scams whose victims are both Moroccans and foreigners residing in Morocco. According to the preliminary investigation, he is suspected of having carried out his various spoliation operations through a company domiciled in his name in a European country. He is also said to have used false property certificates and fake documents such as wills and powers of attorney left by alleged owners of properties dating back to the protectorate, particularly in Casablanca, Settat and Marrakech, to strip his victims of their property.

The properties are lands, villas and riads owned by settlers who had settled in Morocco. The network is said to have sold these properties, without the knowledge of their rightful owners, to a company. The latter in turn took care of reselling them to other companies belonging to the accomplice of the network’s mastermind.