ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR, March 23, 2009 (AFP) - As Andry Rajoelina consolidates his internationally criticised presidency in Madagascar, the business empire of his deposed rival lies in tatters, with many of its workers already laid off.

The Tiko group has been one of the less obvious casualties of the three-month crisis that gripped the country until Rajeoelina ousted Marc Ravalomanana from the presidency last week.

The group, whose activities include food-processing, industrial and the media, is run by Ravalomanana's wife Laloa.

But with Ravalomanana's whereabouts still unknown since his army-backed overthrow, the future of the company is uncertain.

And although the new government has not announced what will happen to his business interests, some of Tiko's 5,000 employees fear the group will be nationalised.

'We feel we are the victims of a political conflict,' one Tiko executive, who would not give his name, told AFP.

'By destroying Ravalomanana's wealth, Madagascans and Madagascar are being destroyed.'

During his years as president, Ravalomanana used the country's leading business group to strengthen his hold on power, appointing Tiko executives to key political positions.

Ravalomanana's critics accused the former leader of mixing business and political interests: they pointed to the monopoly Tiko enjoyed on some products and the lack of transparency regarding in the group's financial affairs.

So when anti-government demonstrations and protests erupted in January, Tiko's Magro supermarket chain became a prime target. Protesters looted and torched virtually every store in the country.

That has led to enormous losses for Tiko since January and forced the company to lay off some of its workers.

'It has been a month since the 45 Magro workers have been on forced vacation,' said a guard at one of the Antananarivo stores, devastated by pillaging on January 26.

'Some have fled to the countryside. Nobody from Tiko has contacted us for days,' added the man, who asked to remain anonymous.

It was a similar story at the Madagascan daily Le Quotidien, also owned by the ex-president.

An employee for the newspaper said he had been fired after 14 years at the paper - and already in February they had been put on half pay.

'Our editor-in-chief got a call on Tuesday telling him to stop the newspaper's publication completely,' he said. 'We were very surprised.' Today, he said, he was working at his brother's business - and struggling to make ends meet.

'It would be a miracle if the new government took care of us,' he added. While the new government has not officially announced Tiko's fate, Rajoelina vowed in a speech Saturday to put an 'end to economic monopolies' on the Indian Ocean island.

Observers say Ravalomanana was among the few Madagascans to invest massively in the country's economy - sometimes to the point of extravagance. Through Tiko, for example, he built Africa's largest rice factory.

Today, Tiko employees say they face intimidation and threats because of their association with Ravalomanana's business empire. They await their fate under the new regime with some trepidation.

And nor are they the only ones: as well as the 5,000 people Tiko employs directly, the group's activities sustain thousands of other jobs.

Their fates will also be linked to how Tiko fares under the new political regime.