El nuevo jefe de Gobierno marroquí deja sus cargos en su grupo empresarial

The new head of the Moroccan government and Morocco's second richest man, Aziz Ajanuch, today stepped down from all his executive functions in the family business consortium he headed, Acwa Group, to devote himself to his new government post.

After being appointed chief executive by King Mohammed VI on Friday, Ajanuch began an "immediate" process to withdraw from all management of the family consortium, the Moroccan businessman's cabinet announced in a statement.

The note recalls that Ajanuch abandoned all management activities in the private sector or with his family business "despite the fact that there is no legal restriction" in this respect

The new head of the Moroccan government took this decision in order to "devote himself entirely to his new functions after being invested by the king", the note stresses.

Ajanuch has - after the king - the second largest fortune in Morocco, valued at 2 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine. He is also the president of the National Rally of Independents (RNI, a centrist liberal party), which won the legislative elections of 8 September with 102 seats (out of a total of 395).

In the municipal and regional elections held on the same day, the RNI won 9,995 of the approximately 31,000 councillors in the country's municipalities, as well as 196 of the 678 seats in Morocco's twelve regional councils.

The Acwa group, which founded Ajanuch and is not listed on the stock exchange, includes the fuel distribution company Afriquia, Maghreb Oxygène (specialising in medical, industrial and food gases) as well as a dozen companies operating in real estate, finance, tourism, telecommunications, and media (such as the weekly La Vie Eco and the magazine Femmes du Maroc).