One month later, the scandal took a transnational turn. Le Desk published a bombshell investigation revealing that a Swiss account under the name “Belguel Holdings SA” (registered in Geneva in 2017) had received €8.2 million in “consulting fees” from a real estate developer linked to a now-bankrupt Dubai fund. The money trail led back to the rezoning of the Drarga land—the same land at the heart of the Aït Souss complaint.
In late October 2021, Morocco’s Financial Intelligence Authority (ANRF) forwarded a report to the public prosecutor’s office. Two weeks later, Hakim Belguel attempted to fly from Agadir–Al Massira Airport to Istanbul with a one-way ticket. He was stopped at passport control. An Interpol red notice was not issued, but a judicial control order confined him to the Agadir region.
Redouane Belguel, however, had already left the country in September via Casablanca, flying to Paris on a Moroccan diplomatic passport—a privilege he claimed was obtained “legally” due to his role as an economic advisor to a former minister. The controversy over the misuse of diplomatic passports for businessmen became a secondary scandal, dubbed “Passeportgate.”
This paper examines the so-called “Belguel scandal,” an alleged 2021 criminal network operating between Belgium and Agadir, Morocco. Centered on the illicit trade of chira (cannabis resin), real estate money laundering, and the exploitation of COVID-19 travel waivers, the case exposed deep rifts in EU-Moroccan judicial cooperation. While never officially confirmed by Rabat, leaked Belgian police documents and Spanish intelligence reports suggest a high-level cover-up involving local Agadir officials. This paper argues that the Belguel affair accelerated the 2022 suspension of certain bilateral extradition treaties and reshaped anti-corruption discourse in the Souss-Massa region. belguel moroccan scandal from agadir 2021
Within Morocco, the scandal was almost entirely blacked out. The only mention was a brief report in the daily Assabah (July 22, 2021) titled “Agadir: Suspicions of Customs Corruption,” which was removed from the online archive within 48 hours. Civil society activists in Agadir attempted a protest on August 5, 2021, but it was dispersed by security forces. Notably, the activist leader, Samira L., was arrested under Article 10 of the anti-cybercrime law for “sharing false news.”
Two years later, the Agadir scandal remains a cautionary tale.
The "Belguel model" was not merely fraud; it was a masterpiece of parallel finance. Investigators from the Brigade Nationale de la Police Judiciaire (BNPJ) in Agadir later uncovered a three-layer scheme: One month later, the scandal took a transnational turn
It started with viral videos. In late July/early August 2021, Agadir residents began filming and sharing clips of luxury cars with Belgian license plates blocking streets, loud music blasting until dawn, and—most controversially—aggressive behavior towards local police and residents.
The spark that lit the fire was an incident involving a Belgian-Moroccan influencer (later identified as "S.B." by Belgian media). According to police reports (leaked to TelQuel and Hespress), the influencer attempted to enter a private beach resort without a ticket. When a local security guard stopped him, a brawl broke out. The influencer allegedly called friends, and a mob of Belgian-Moroccan youths stormed the gate.
When local police intervened, they were met with insults, thrown projectiles, and in one shocking video, a young man spitting at a uniformed officer while screaming, "Do you know who I am? I pay your salary." An Interpol red notice was not issued, but
Every scandal has a spark. For Belguel, it came on June 12, 2021. A widow named Rachida O. , who had invested her late husband’s pension (820,000 dirhams) into two "ready-to-move-in" shops in the Ancienne Foire project, arrived at the site to find an empty lot. No shops. No foundation. Only a rusty fence and a sign reading "SHD – Future Site."
Her desperate plea to a local notary went viral after the notary recorded her crying in his office and posted the 47-second video to Facebook. The caption read: "Question: Why does the Agadir Urban Agency give permits for air?"
Within 48 hours, the video had 1.2 million shares. The hashtag #BelguelScam began trending across Morocco, Algeria, and the Moroccan diaspora in France.