Reuters
Morocco’s Generale Immobiliere (CGI) said on Wednesday it would delist its shares, after the country’s king ordered an investigation into the state-run property developer.
Last week, market watchdog CDVM suspended trading in CGI.
“The company’s board has decided to delist shares from Casablanca Stock Exchange, as demanded by the finance ministry, to alter the company’s strategy,” CGI’s statement said.
The Moroccan king ordered an investigation into CGI after he received complaints from customers, the state news agency reported last August.
CGI is owned by Morocco’s state investment vehicle Caisse de Depot et de Gestion (CDG). Officials from CDG and its affiliate, including the heads of the two companies, are facing corruption charges.
CDG chief Anas Alami, CGI’s manager Ali Ghannam and near other 20 other officials were heard last week by judges investigating the Madinat Badis project, located in the northern city of Al-Hoceima.
Madinat Badis is a 50-hectare project with luxury and medium cost houses, launched by the king in 2007.
An earlier finance ministry investigation showed the company failed to deliver the houses it had promised on the plans, sources familiar with the matter have said. CGI has been facing other probes in other projects elsewhere in the country.
CDG and CGI could not be immediately reached for comment.
CDG, the government’s financial arm which manages the state’s pension funds, has a large portfolio that includes holdings in paper making, tourism, real estate, insurance, banking, telecoms and agrobusiness. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Jason Neely and Clara Ferreira Marques)
