Unpaid suppliers, workers of supermarket chain in limbo in UAE

Dubai - Some of the suppliers have filed complaints against the group management over bounced cheques.

A supermarket chain that shut down recently has left hundreds of unpaid workers and suppliers in limbo, a group of suppliers claimed on Thursday.

Several supermarket outlets run by Al Manama Group, which has about four decades' history of operating in the UAE, closed down without paying the dues to them, the suppliers said.

Around 40 representatives from over 100 suppliers -- who claim to have lost money amounting to millions of dirhams -- came together on Thursday and maintained they were unable to contact the management of the group despite repeated attempts. Calls by Khaleej Times to the group office went unanswered while mobile numbers of some of the senior management people were 'not reachable'.

"The trouble with the group started early in March and they almost stopped paying us the money from June. But I am dealing with the group for more than three decades, and I trusted them when they said the dues would be settled soon," said PK Kutty, sales manager, Al Jazira Poultry Farm LLC.

Mohammed Shameem, credit controller at Baqer Mohebi Enterprises, said many of the suppliers reached the main office of the group on November 5 and it was "chaos there".

"There was nobody responsible in the office. We could only see some (junior) managers who knew nothing about the situation.

"The managing director of the group, Abdul Khader Sabeer from Kerala, India, has been missing from the UAE for some time. And all other responsible people gradually disappeared," said Shameem.

Some of the suppliers have filed complaints against the group management over bounced cheques.

"I have been doing business with them since 1991 and, till June, I faced no issues. There was not even a single dud cheque or any other discrepancy. But after the credit grew high, I had to stop supplying goods. I have eight cheques worth a total of Dh1.4 million with me and two of them have already bounced. The rest are due in the coming month and I don't think it will pass at the bank," added Shameem.

Stanley Rodrigues, general manager of Datar and Sons Limited, said: "We have no idea what to do. We don't even know where Sabeer is. Every attempt we made to contact him or any other senior managers went in vain. For us, the problem is that we are not the owners of the firms that supplied goods to the group. We are just employees and are answerable to our companies. We even supplied goods beyond the normal credit limit to Al Manama because we trusted the group and had been doing business for decades. Now, we are in deep trouble."

The suppliers said they are planning to take legal action against the group.

'I still hope everything can be resolved'

Abdul Khader Sabeer, managing director of Al Manama Group, told Khaleej Times that he still hopes to resolve the crisis the group is facing. In a voice message sent to Khaleej Times from an undisclosed location, Sabeer acknowledged the troubles with the payments.

"It started with some bank issues and there were some salary dues to my employees. I was confident that everything would soon be all right. But some unexpected incidents happened and the situation worsened because of external interference," he said.

He claimed the money he made from the business in the UAE was reinvested in the country itself. "I never thought that I would have to leave the UAE. The UAE helped me make whatever I had and I invested it in the country." He claimed that the group had around Dh400 million worth of assets.

Sabeer added there were some other groups willing to take over the shops and settle the dues of the suppliers. He said it won't happen in one day and that it needed time. "Regarding the staff, I have deposited more than Dh4.5 million with the government and it's enough to settle their salary dues."

He claimed that some banks jumped into filing criminal cases against him, which forced him to leave everything behind.

"I hope that with the help of everybody, the problems will be resolved," Sabeer added.

'Many of the employees are struggling'

Following reports in vernacular media about the hardships of the workers of the closed Al Manama Group shops, Khaleej Times contacted some of them.

"We are part of over 400 staff here in the Ajman labour accommodation now. Most others got our visas cancelled and many have returned home," said a salesman at Al Manama Hypermarket in Ajman, who didn't want to be named.

"They received salary dues, but none of them got the end-of-service benefits," he added. Many of the staff are staying back with the hope of finding other jobs.

Another employee said he is waiting for visa cancellation to leave the UAE. "I received my salary last week."

Al Manama Group had more than 15 shops across Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah.
anuwarrier@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai