Morocco Probes Illegal Fund Transfers in High-Value Real Estate Deals

These investigations were launched following alerts from real estate agents and notaries about suspicious operations involving the purchase of high-value real estate and abandoned land in the provinces of Berrechid and Nouaceur, on the outskirts of Casablanca. According to the same sources, elected officials and real estate developers are buying these properties from heirs of foreign owners and Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) and settling the transactions abroad, thus violating foreign exchange regulations.

Exchange Office inspectors are focusing on a purchase operation of a small real estate development located in a municipality within the province of Berrechid, between the heir of a French national and a municipal councilor and real estate developer. The transaction was entirely settled in euros abroad. A famous real estate developer also acquired land located in a strategic area of a municipality in the province of Nouaceur, and money was sent to the seller from Spain.

Illicit transfers of funds abroad had been reported by competing real estate companies, the investigators specify, adding that the analysis of recent real estate purchases revealed that the amounts of these transactions were settled in France, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The investigations have been expanded to determine possible links with money laundering, especially since most of the targeted companies are active in other sectors such as currency exchange, payments, money transfers, textiles, and clothing.

Exchange Office investigators, in collaboration with the General Tax Directorate, have thoroughly examined the accounting statements and bank transfer records of the targeted companies belonging to elected officials and real estate developers, discovering the existence of undeclared amounts in the context of purchases and constitution of real estate stocks, collected in foreign currencies abroad, and declarations of amounts equal to or higher than the reference prices of the properties, aimed at deceiving the vigilance of the tax administration’s control services and the exchange authority.