Agadir24
A wide-ranging audit operation has been launched among Moroccan stone and meteorite traders by the Exchange Office inspectors, in coordination with the General Directorate of Taxes and the General Administration of Customs and Indirect Taxes, after suspicions of their involvement in money smuggling operations abroad.
According to informed sources, the monitoring services of the General Directorate of Taxes have detected suspicions of manipulation in the statements of Moroccan stone and meteorite traders operating under the status of natural persons, through commercial transactions concluded in the United States of America.
The same sources explained that these traders participated in international trade fairs and transferred their high-value goods for sale before their revenues disappeared there, which resulted in the transfer of some of their files to the Exchange Office for auditing regarding the financial transactions carried out by them abroad.
The same sources confirmed that the suspects used to participate in this type of exhibition and transport their valuable goods to it, dividing them on each trip among new traders, for whom tax documents and commercial assets were issued beforehand, noting that the price of one gram of some of these goods exceeded a thousand dollars.
The same sources revealed that initial investigations showed that the suspects had established close relationships with the organizers of these exhibitions, which facilitated obtaining invitations for the benefit of new traders, who were exploited in transporting goods abroad, while some of them obtained residency after marrying American women, which accelerated the process of investing profits and exploiting them in owning real estate and investment projects there.
The ongoing investigations by the Exchange Office inspectors into this issue come after observing the increasing rate of meteorite exports during close periods of time, exceeding commercial occasions and dates, and the suspects’ reliance on American wives to manage their trade and ensure its sustainability abroad.
It is worth noting that the decree implementing Article 116 of Law No. 33.13 on mines, which entered into force in March 2020, subjected the extraction and collection of mineral samples and meteorites to a license from the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development.
The decree included measures regarding the marketing of these stones, as those wishing to do so must submit to the relevant ministry an identification card for the meteorite and a sample of it in order to obtain a receipt to be presented when declaring the export or import to customs.
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2024-08-27 07:45:59
