Morocco Investigates Earthquake Aid Price Gouging and Illegal Capital Flight

Import-export companies domiciled in Morocco, including those run by Moroccans Residing Abroad (MREs), are in the sights of the Customs Administration and the Foreign Exchange Office. They are said to have overcharged significant orders for tents, blankets and food products intended for the victims of the devastating earthquake never seen in Morocco since 1960, reports Assabah, specifying that the invoices and import documents presented to the Customs services "mention amounts that far exceed the real price" of these imported products and foodstuffs from China. These companies would have overestimated the value of their imports in order to illegally take capital out of the country. They would then recover the difference from their partners to possibly invest it abroad.

These same companies would pay their invoices to their suppliers, while completing all the required administrative procedures, in order to illegally take capital out of the kingdom. Enough to arouse the suspicions of the Customs Administration, which is conducting an investigation into this case of capital flight. Sources from the Arabic-language daily mention "fictitious operations which, in most cases, have not been completed" and point to collusion between the managers of the incriminated companies and entrepreneurs in China. The latter would be tasked with producing, at their request, invoices with "exaggerated" amounts. For its part, the Foreign Exchange Office is also conducting an investigation into this matter. It is scrutinizing the entire accounting of the suspected companies whose managers are MREs.