Morocco Land Scandal: Interior Ministry Targets Municipal Real Estate Lobbies

The General Directorate of Territorial Communities (DGCT) is tightening oversight of local assets. According to informed sources cited by Hespress, a wide-ranging audit campaign has been launched to dismantle the “lobbies” surrounding municipal real estate, following the receipt of damning reports pointing to serious irregularities.

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The investigations are focused on the Casablanca-Settat, Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima and Rabat-Sale-Kenitra regions. Governors have ordered the presidents of the municipalities concerned to justify the transfer prices of certain public plots, deemed derisory, as well as the identities of the ultimate beneficiaries.

In addition to suspicious sales, investigators are examining conflicts of interest and incompatibility situations, particularly in peri-urban areas such as Berrechid and Mediouna. Some elected officials are accused of awarding the exploitation of municipal assets to relatives or electoral supporters, while failing to collect unpaid rents or initiate the necessary legal proceedings to recover these debts.

The audit also aims to verify the proper maintenance of the “consistency register,” a mandatory document listing the municipality’s assets, and to shed light on the non-payment by local elected officials of taxes on undeveloped urban land.