Moroccan Municipal Leader Under Investigation for Property Embezzlement

Legal troubles are looming for Issam El Khamlichi, president of the municipal council of Targuist, affiliated with the Constitutional Union? He is the subject of an investigation following the instructions of the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Fez. The judicial police officers are trying to verify whether the municipality has indeed issued numbered administrative certificates dated May 16, 2017, and whether a 484 m² plot of land located in the Asmar El Oued area belongs to the municipal patrimony. In this sense, they have requested information and documents, including copies of the requests for administrative certificates granted to the heirs of Mohamed Seddik El Khamlichi, Mohamed El Khamlichi and Ahmed Aberkane, as well as copies of the sales contracts of municipal lands to individuals, from the director of the municipal services, reports Al Akhbar.

The municipal councilors who filed a complaint against El Khamlichi reported several irregularities, including the acquisition by the president of the municipal council of a plot of land through a transaction with his father, without proof of initial ownership. He is accused of having built an apartment building on this land, after obtaining a building permit in his name in October 2019, while this land was initially intended for a public space. Mohamed El Khamlichi sold it to his son Issam El Khamlouchi, president of the municipal council, by notarial deed.

The four-story building built by the president of the municipal council is also targeted. The plaintiffs mention the falsification of documents and illegal construction (addition of two floors without authorization). While a demolition order was issued in 2020, the president obtained a certificate of compliance from an architect, preventing the destruction of the additional floors.

Other irregularities reported: budgetary manipulations concerning the salaries of temporary employees of the cleaning service (presence of people who have not really worked on the payroll).