Morocco’s Horse Industry: A Haven for Money Laundering Schemes

Horse breeding has become a profitable and safe activity for those who engage in money laundering from drug trafficking. In this sense, the daily Assabah reports the case of the owner of an import-export company, holder of a sudden wealth, after having extended his business to horse breeding and trading in the vicinity of Casablanca and in other regions to better disguise his illegally acquired fortune.

Since this sector is not subject to strict control in terms of accounting documents and invoices, therefore without any traceability requirement, it is quickly invested by those who cannot explain their fortune.

Thus, these criminals are raking in billions without arousing the slightest suspicion, while taking advantage of the incentives and subsidies granted by the State to this sector, reports Assabah.

A horse acquired for 70,000 dirhams, for example, is officially declared to have been purchased for 300,000 dirhams, knowing that the balance to be reinvested comes from an illegal activity, explains the same source.

In reality, the stable owner who runs a horse trading business under the cover of his import-export company is part of a network that allows him to transfer money abroad legally, thus escaping the security services. The latter are now determined to infiltrate this network in order to seize the circuits leading to the respondents outside the country, before getting their hands on the accomplices in Morocco.