“If I have decided to speak today, it's because I felt it necessary to clarify my government's policy in terms of investment encouragement and more particularly in terms of awarding grounds for investments”, said technocratic Jettou in his first media appearance since he left politics.

The former prime minster alludes to the crisis that broke out when the giant property developer and Member of Parliament, Miloud Chaabi, accused the state of favouritism in the awarding of plots of land earmarked for investments, especially to rival developer Addoha.

Chaabi even pressed for the creation of a parliamentary investigation committee.

Recently, this problem has caused intense media coverage, especially from the leading Arabic newspaper, Almassae, which was the first to break the news. This is what prompted the former head of government to clarify things.

“No investment file was treated outside the procedures stipulated by the law regulating this matter,” insisted the former PM.

He stressed that all the investment files passed through the filter of the Investment Commission, which is in charge of studying them, adding that heated and long debates were conducted during these studies, whatever the nature of the investment.

This was confirmed by the current, and former, Minister of Housing, who stressed that “nothing is arbitrary,” in an interview with the Moroccan daily L'Economiste.

And concerning the lans which were sold very cheaply (MAD 50 to 100 per m²), Jettou underlined that it was the state's ambition to solve the housing problem as soon as possible and boost tourist and industrial investments.

“It is necessary to learn from the current debate. The system is by all means perfectible, but the state must not go backward in its policies aiming at the encouragement of investments and the stabilisation of prices,” concluded Driss Jettou.