Morocco Enlists Real Estate Agents in Anti-Money Laundering Efforts

According to Law No. 12-18 amending and supplementing the Penal Code and Law No. 43-05, real estate agents, as well as accounting professionals, notaries, lawyers or casinos, have a role to play as whistleblowers in the framework of the system to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, reports L’Économiste. To better play this role, it is first necessary to provide this profession with a regulatory framework that meets international standards. Informality continues to reign in the real estate sector, with intermediaries who do not have a tax identification number or a registered office, etc.

It is therefore urgent to regulate the real estate agent profession. And the professionals intend to play their part. "The profession intends to seize the government to raise awareness on this initiative, on the urgency of finally establishing a regulatory framework to bring the profession up to international standards," explains Mohamed Lahlou, president of the Regional Union of Real Estate Agents Casablanca-Settat. The process of regulating the profession will see an acceleration after the entry into force of the law on money laundering and the financing of terrorism.