Morocco Launches Probe into Overseas Property Purchases by Residents

In an interview with the newspaper l’Economiste, the director of the Foreign Exchange Office, Hassan Boulaknadal, stated that an investigation into real estate acquisitions by Moroccans with tax residency in Morocco has been launched by his services.

And the director of the Office reminded the fraudsters that any acquisition of property abroad must have the approval of his services. "The foreign exchange regulations are clear, the acquisition of real estate abroad by persons residing in Morocco without the prior approval of the Foreign Exchange Office constitutes an offense," he noted, stating that 600 asset formation files have been examined since 2014.

"Thanks to the information exchange mechanism provided for by regional or international cooperation agreements, the Foreign Exchange Office has more and more means to control and detect asset formation operations abroad," Boulaknadal specified, warning offenders that they are exposed to heavy penalties that can go up to six times the value of the asset formed.