Morocco: new land of exile for Algerian oligarchs?

Is panic gripping the Algerian power? According to a security report submitted to the El-Mouradia Presidential Palace (Algiers), businessmen or families of wealthy businessmen forced to flee Algeria hastily to escape the "judicial revenge machine set in motion by the Algerian authorities" to track down the alleged economic or business networks of the fallen power of Abdelaziz Bouteflika are settling in Morocco. According to Algerian intelligence services, these people who were mainly based in France, Spain or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates until 2022, have turned to the kingdom since 2023, to invest part of their savings or obtain luxury residences in the most prestigious cities of Morocco such as Marrakech, Casablanca or Tangier, reports Maghreb-Intelligence. Their partners are Moroccan entrepreneurs who have thrived abroad.

Among these people are children of former CEOs of the largest state-owned Algerian companies, former businessmen who made their fortune in the Bouteflika era in real estate, raw material import-export, the pharmaceutical industry or the luxury goods trade. Many of them are the subject of international arrest warrants "which could not be executed due to the length of the judicial procedures initiated in foreign countries and the vigorous challenges raised by the targeted persons." Settling in Morocco allows them to escape Algerian justice.

In their report, the Algerian intelligence services fear that these wealthy people with assets valued at several tens of millions of euros or dollars will set up a "rich opposition front" from the western neighbor and use part of their fortune to finance "subversive activities", in particular political and media actions hostile to the Algerian power on the eve of the next presidential elections scheduled for December 2024.