Morocco launches sweeping probe into communal land corruption scandal
Morocco’s Interior Ministry has initiated unprecedented investigations into alleged systematic appropriation of public lands worth billions of dirhams, with suspicions falling on local elected officials accused of facilitating illegal transfers to influential real estate developers.
Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit ordered comprehensive inquiries following confidential reports revealing an organized network specializing in the illegal acquisition of communal properties. The scandal allegedly involves municipal council presidents and local representatives who reportedly enabled private developers to seize collective assets through opaque transactions and procedural irregularities.
The Directorate General of Territorial Communities has already blocked multiple suspicious municipal deliberations concerning public land sales and leases, citing transparency concerns and administrative violations. Officials confirmed that criminal cases would be forwarded to judicial authorities for prosecution.
In response to the crisis, authorities launched an extensive inventory and regularization operation covering major cities including Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Fès, Tanger, Salé, Kénitra, Témara, and Benslimane. The initiative combines land title regularization with digital tracking through the Atlas cartographic system, a geographic information platform developed with the National Land Conservation Agency.
The system provides real-time surveillance capabilities by cataloging surface areas, titles, and allocations for each property parcel. New legislation governing communal assets mandates competitive bidding for all transfers, regulates temporary occupations, and requires regular patrimony register updates with transparent auction pricing.
Ministry officials frame the crackdown as essential for transforming communal lands into strategic development assets. With rapid urbanization and demographic pressures intensifying, these properties represent critical resources for public infrastructure, economic zones, and social facilities. The government has declared zero tolerance for practices that previously allowed collective assets to serve as instruments of political and economic patronage, signaling a decisive break from entrenched corruption patterns.