Tried for human exploitation, fraud and money laundering in the agricultural sector, the brains of a network which essentially recruited illegal labor in Morocco for agricultural service companies in different regions of France, were sentenced to one year in prison.
On Tuesday, the judgment in the human exploitation and money laundering case which broke out after the dismantling of a hidden work network in the agricultural world fell. After two days of trial, the Montauban court (Tarn-et-Garonne) sentenced Aziz Zaida, 47, to “three years of imprisonment, two of which were suspended on probation”, reports La Dépêche du Midi. He was also fined 30,000 euros. Oualid Rahmoni, 39, was sentenced to “two years of imprisonment, one of which with a probationary suspension”, adjustable in the form of an electronic bracelet and “confiscation of the seals, i.e. 51,000 euros”.
Read: Saint-Émilion: Moroccan workers exploited, their recruiters convicted
Prosecutor Magali Bordes had requested three prison terms and fines of 150,000 euros against the two main defendants. The court also sentenced eight other defendants to suspended prison sentences of 12 to 18 months and fines of between 3,000 and 5,000 euros.
-Read: Moroccans victims of modern slavery in Dordogne
Aziz Zaida and Oualid Rahmoni have been named as the masterminds of this vast social and tax fraud. The investigation revealed that the network was essentially recruiting illegal labor in Morocco for agricultural service companies in different regions of France. In all, nearly 300 people were recruited.
Morocco
