Moroccan Royal Family Sues Woman Claiming to be Hassan II’s ’Hidden Daughter’ for Fraud

There is new development in the case of the alleged "hidden daughter" of Hassan II. The Kingdom of Morocco has filed a complaint for fraud against Jane Benzaquen and her family. This Belgian-Israeli woman who has recruited Belgian lawyer Marc Uyttendaele to advance the legal proceedings she initiated in 2008, claims to be convinced that she is the "hidden daughter" of the father of King Mohammed VI. "We are at the beginning of the procedure," Stanislas Eskénazi, the lawyer representing King Mohammed VI in this case, told RTLinfo. So the parties have concluded in this case and each is putting forward its arguments. And the argument of the Moroccan state is simply that she must be dismissed from her request."

The lawyer believes that there can be no legal proceedings. "For the simple and good reason that it is the Moroccan state that has filed a complaint against these people. We have filed a criminal complaint for attempted extortion. The facts are simple, it is that we did not come before a court to simply ask for a filiation. We first went to the ambassador’s office to ask for a discreet, amicable, fair and equitable solution," explained Stanislas Eskénazi.

And to conclude: "We came to ask for money. We came knocking on the door of the Moroccan ambassador. And I was not present during this contact, but it has been confirmed by several letters where we used the terms "fair and equitable". The Moroccan state considers itself the victim of an attempted extortion of funds."

By recruiting Belgian lawyer Marc Uyttendaele, Jane Benzaquen hopes to prevail. Thanks to this lawyer, Belgian plastic artist Delphine Boël won her long legal battle for paternity recognition. The former King of the Belgians, Albert II, admitted to being her biological father following a DNA test. Uyttendaele thus assigns himself the same mission so that Benzaquen, born in Casablanca on November 14, 1953, to Anita Benzaquen and Raoul Jossart, both now deceased, is recognized as a member of the Moroccan royal family. DNA tests had already proven that Raoul Jossart, the Belgian national designated as her father on her birth certificate, was not her biological father. Three other separate DNA tests have also proven that she does not have ancestors from Western Europe and that her genetic heritage comes rather from North Africa and the Middle East.