Moroccan Judge Arrested in Land Fraud Scheme Targeting Jewish Property Owner

It all started from an observation made by a Moroccan Jew that a land property belonging to him had been dispossessed through the use of forged documents drawn up by an adoul. The latter relied on the testimonies of seasonal workers and an Istiqlal elected official in the commune of Imouzzer du Kandar, in the Middle Atlas, reports the Arabic daily Assabah. Based on information provided by the DGST indicating numerous acts of land spoliation targeting properties belonging to individuals, particularly foreigners or in the public domain, a magistrate who served at the Sefrou court was arrested in the same city. 25 other people belonging to this network were also arrested in Imouzzer du Kandar, Azrou, Beni Mellal, Tinghir, Ouarzazate and Ain Taoujtat. Among them are elected officials, adouls and civil servants, reveals the investigation conducted by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ).

After their separate hearings before an investigating judge at the Fez Court of Appeal - the magistrate benefits from an exceptional procedure according to the legislation -, the magistrate in question was placed in pre-trial detention in a cell of the Bourkaiz civil prison. He is accused of having received bribes in amounts estimated at several tens of thousands of dirhams, to falsify official documents in particular. Of the 25 other defendants, 13 of them were imprisoned and will therefore be prosecuted in a state of pre-trial detention, reports the Arabic daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

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According to other results of this investigation, this network was also involved in illegal immigration by defrauding candidates for emigration. They made them believe that they would provide them with visas for European countries, in return for large sums of money.