Morocco Moves to Crack Down on Deceptive Advertising After Real Estate Scandal

Finally, the parliamentarians are working to pass a law against deceptive and misleading advertising. The competent commission at the level of the House of Representatives will devote its next meeting to the examination of a bill on deceptive and misleading advertising, reports Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

This bill comes from the parliamentary group of the Istiqlal Party (PI). It provides for fines of up to ten times the value of the misleading advertising campaign.

The same source indicates that it is the "Bab Darna immobilier" fraud case that has motivated the parliamentarians to legislate on deceptive and misleading advertising. In this case, the company in question had launched an advertising campaign featuring TV stars to make potential buyers believe that it was offering them three apartments for the price of two. They will eventually realize the deception. In total, more than 800 real estate buyers, including MREs, were victims of this vast fraud. Bab Darna immobilier had swindled 400 million dirhams from its victims.