Moroccan MP Faces Travel Ban in Major Land Fraud Investigation

The court decided to apply the contumacy procedure against the socialist MP and four other defendants. Thus, for not having appeared before the court, the accused were prohibited from leaving the national territory, reports the daily Al Akhbar, adding that the MP faces other sanctions if he does not appear before the court within a period of eight days. He would then be considered an outlaw, would lose his civil rights and would be deprived of all his property throughout the investigation procedure.

The investigations carried out by the BNPJ showed that Belfkih and his accomplices used sales contracts drawn up by a lawyer and legalized by the urban commune of Guelmim, then chaired by this same Abdelwahab Belfkih. Documents that allowed them to start exploiting these properties, going so far as to submit claims for compensation before the administrative court of Agadir. The parties concerned then hastened to register these properties with the land registry, relying on the testimonies of certain people.

These, in the investigation, declared that they had rather been abused, specifying that being farmers, they had handed over their identity cards to one of the accused for their registration on the list of farmers to benefit from aid in fodder and water tanks. But the accused exploited these identity documents to fabricate false testimonies in their name, in order to use them for fraudulent purposes.

The 11 defendants face sentences of up to twenty years in prison.