The Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, announced the arrest of an entrepreneur and the legal prosecution of several others, accused of fraud against beneficiaries of reconstruction support in areas affected by the 2023 earthquake He stressed that local authorities “apply rigorous disciplinary measures against anyone involved in fraudulent practices or acts of extortion, whether entrepreneurs or representatives of the local authority.”
Before the deputies, Mr. Laftit indicated that an investigation carried out into these facts revealed that a contractor, in addition to having defrauded around ten people, would have failed in his contractual obligations by not finalizing the agreed work and not respecting the technical standards in force. Alerted, the local authorities ordered the contractor to complete the work in accordance with standards or to return the amounts collected. At the same time, they encouraged victims to file individual complaints with the public prosecutor’s office for breach of trust and carrying out non-compliant work. The entrepreneur “was arrested by the royal gendarmerie in Aït Melloul”according to the minister. A search note was issued against a second, suspected of the same misdeeds.
Auxiliaries of authority were also heard within the framework of an official report, and denied having recommended the incriminated entrepreneur, affirming “only facilitated his work by providing him with necessary information and monitoring the work.” As for an agent found guilty of having extorted sums of money from citizens in exchange for promises of intervention with central services to guarantee their access to aid intended for disaster victims, he was dismissed.
The minister assured that local authorities “continue to monitor this matter vigilantly in order to preserve the rights of the populations and avoid any slowdown in the reconstruction process. Severe disciplinary measures will be systematically applied against people involved in fraudulent or abusive practices.”
