French financial oversight bodies and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (GAFIC) prompted Morocco’s Exchange Office to launch a broad investigation into Moroccan businessmen allegedly involved in using offshore bank accounts in the Bahamas and Saint Lucia to fund luxury real estate purchases in Paris, sources told Hespress.
Preliminary findings indicate that these businessmen, some owning real estate and food companies, attempted to deceive financial regulators in Morocco and other countries by conducting suspicious money transfers from Saint Lucia to France, employing intermediaries and professional financial experts to obscure the funds’ origins.
The properties acquired in Paris were primarily located in prestigious districts, and the transactions were channeled through reputable real estate agencies to avoid scrutiny.
Further investigation revealed that these businessmen had set up companies under the names of relatives and acquaintances in Caribbean tax havens.
Large sums of money were transferred under the pretext of business agreements and market research, raising concerns over potential money laundering operations. Some Moroccan property owners in France, who had failed to declare their holdings, were uncovered during a French audit targeting money laundering and terrorist financing.
The probe has expanded to examine possible illicit activities, including the use of inflated import transactions to smuggle significant sums of money abroad.
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