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Arab chef cooks his own goose!

The Egyptian chef was deported after losing a case to his sponsor, an owner of a chain of food trading companies, which he has lodged with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Elaborating on the case, an official source at the ministry yesterday told Khaleej Times that the chef had filed a complaint against his sponsor to get his entitlements.

The ministry had summoned the sponsor who agreed to settle the case amicably and pay the chef all his entitlements and cancel his labour contract, said the source.

However, he said, in a bid to exploit labour laws and regulations, the chef turned down the settlement offer.

“It seemed that the chef has tried to exploit the situation of a pending case with his sponsor to work elsewhere and gain money,” said the source.

The ministry decided that the cook was entitled to Dh23,000 and the sponsor agreed to pay the specified amount.

However, the chef sought to strike a deal with the sponsor and asked for Dh30,000 instead, so as to sign application of labour contract cancellation, said the source.

He said the Egyptian cook then disappeared and even changed his address and his whereabouts was not known in a bid to gain some time to transfer his sponsorship. “The cook changed his address and stopped communicating the ministry to follow up how his complaint was processing. This arose doubts that the man was trying to exploit the situation and transfer his sponsorship,” said the source.

He mentioned that the sponsor had earlier accused the chef of stealing food stuff and that the case was handled by the police.

“To stop the chef from working elsewhere and block his attempts to avail of labour rules, the ministry reported him to the immigration authorities as absconding.”

A warrant of arrest was issued and the cook was caught and deported, he said.

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