Urban Land Tax Scandal: Influential Elites Exposed in Massive Exemption Fraud

Provincial officials are called upon to be vigilant in the face of the use of exceptions that have allowed many owners of land located in urban areas to escape taxation, based on suspicious administrative certificates claiming the exercise of agricultural activities in the middle of the city. In their reports, the judges of the Regional Audit Courts have made direct observations on massive manipulations of the minutes related to this tax, according to sources at Hespress. Some exemptions have therefore been justified by photos to the benefit of real estate developers. Certain notables, influential elected officials and well-placed personalities have benefited from undue exemptions as well as tax amounts largely lower than their real value, the same sources specify. However, the payment of the tax is imposed on legitimate landowners, who continue to cultivate their land despite their framing by real estate projects.

Currently, the presidents of municipalities under the provinces of Berrechid and Médiouna are the subject of requests for clarification and requests for additional information. These steps are part of investigations conducted by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police and inspections carried out by commissions of the General Inspection of Territorial Administration, already dispatched to the services of these communities. These investigations are focused in particular on irregularities in the management of tax resources. Some of the offenses identified could lead to the prosecution of council presidents in cases of aggravated tax evasion, punishable by imprisonment, given the seriousness of the facts that have deprived the public treasury of millions of dirhams, the same sources estimate.