Moroccan wine tycoon Rita Zniber faces stepson's forgery complaint over $1.5 million debt

Rita Maria Zniber, the chairwoman and chief executive of Morocco's Diana Holding, is fighting a forgery complaint brought by her stepson over debt notes worth MAD14.4 million ($1.5 million) that are attributed to her late husband, wine-and-spirits magnate Brahim Zniber.

Mohamed Nabil Zniber, Brahim Zniber's son from his first marriage to Touria Tazi, filed the complaint on July 21. It targets two debt acknowledgments drawn up in Meknes and signed in Brahim Zniber's name: one for MAD12 million ($1.24 million) dated July 4, 2014, and one for MAD2.4 million ($248,000) dated Aug. 25, 2015. Neither was notarized. The heirs who brought the case say the notes were used to freeze the estate.

The complaint is at the preliminary investigation stage with Morocco's judicial police. Officers delivered a summons to Rita Zniber at Diana Holding's headquarters on Sept. 24, during a board meeting. On Sept. 30, she was stopped at Casablanca's Mohammed V airport under a ban on leaving the country as she prepared to fly to Cairo for the Alamein Africa Forum. Police questioned her on Oct. 9, with Rabat lawyer Mounir Founani at her side.

Rita Zniber denies wrongdoing. She says the case has nothing to do with Diana Holding and that her late husband's personal debts belong to the estate, outside the group. She also points to a broad notarized power of attorney Brahim Zniber gave her when he retired. On Oct. 7, she filed a blackmail complaint against her stepson.

A dispute that began in 2018

Brahim Zniber died on Sept. 30, 2016, at 96. Before his death, he split the bare ownership of his shares among his heirs and kept the usufruct, the right to the income, for himself. Litigation over the estate began in 2018.

In June 2019, a 23-page report by the Royal Gendarmerie's forensic institute, ordered by Rabat's court of first instance, concluded that the disputed signatures were not Brahim Zniber's. Rita Zniber's lawyers have challenged the report, arguing that the institute is not among Morocco's approved court experts, and have cited medical records showing her husband had a fractured right shoulder that would have changed his signature. The Rabat court of first instance and the Rabat appeals court rejected her objections, and she took the matter to Morocco's Court of Cassation in February 2020.

The heirs from the first marriage are also seeking audits of usufruct dividend payments recorded between 2009 and 2015. Those heirs include Mohamed Nabil, Tahar Moncif, Latifa Bahae, who still sits on the Diana Holding board, and Ahmed Saad. A separate case was dismissed in early July, and Mohamed Nabil is now the only child of the first marriage still pursuing the dispute.

In an earlier case, Rita Zniber received a six-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay MAD500,000 in damages. Her side says that ruling did not involve forgery and concerned only the running of the estate before it was divided.

The empire at stake

Brahim Zniber, born in Salé in 1920, bought 740 hectares in Aït Harzallah near Meknes in 1956 and built Diana Holding on that land. Its wine unit, Les Celliers de Meknès, is Morocco's largest wine producer, with more than 2,000 hectares of vines and the Château Roslane label. The group also built a Coca-Cola bottling franchise, poultry, olive oil and citrus operations, and plastics and distribution businesses.

Diana Holding has annual consolidated turnover of more than MAD3.5 billion ($362 million) and over 6,500 direct employees. In 2022, it sold Atlas Bottling Company, its Coca-Cola bottler, to Spain's North Africa Bottling Co. in a deal valued at about MAD1.7 billion ($176 million). The group says its governance runs independently of the family dispute and is preparing to open its capital through a stock market listing.

The group also carries a legacy from France. In April 2021, France's market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, fined Diana Holding €10 million ($11.2 million) and Rita Zniber €6 million ($6.7 million) over insider dealing and shareholding disclosures tied to its stake in Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits. Diana Holding's fine was later cut to €9.92 million ($11.1 million) on appeal. On Nov. 4, France's top court rejected an appeal by Serge Heringer, Diana Holding's former representative, who was fined €2 million ($2.24 million), and sent his challenge to the Treasury's collection order back to the Paris Court of Appeal.

Rita Zniber married Brahim Zniber in 1979, joined Diana Holding in 1988 and became chairwoman and chief executive in 2014. Forbes Middle East has repeatedly ranked her among the 100 most influential women in the Arab world. Her children Leyth and Diana Maria Zniber sit on the Diana Holding board.

Figures were converted at MAD9.68 to the dollar and €1 to $1.12.