NMC Healthcare signed off on payments of Dh2 million to a struggling food business set up by the daughter of founder BR Shetty before the hospitals group collapsed with a mountain of debt, The National can reveal.
Documents seen by this newspaper show that the NMC Health subsidiary asked its bank to transfer two payments of Dh1m in 2015 to the company behind the Just Falafel chain of restaurants that was established by Dr Shetty’s daughter Reema and her husband Mohamad Bitar.
The first of the payments was requested in July, 2015, four months after Just Falafel closed its four outlets in London after an ambitious global expansion of the fast-food franchise crumbled amid financial problems.
NMC Health went into administration in April this year amid allegations of financial wrongdoing that Mr Shetty has blamed on a small group of former and current executives who he claimed had acted without his knowledge.
He claimed there had been “many fraudulent transfers” that he had no knowledge of before the company was forced into administration by its largest lender, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
But the revelation that at least two transfers were authorised by NMC Health to a company run by a member of his family will raise questions about who signed them off and if Mr Shetty knew about them.
The documents show an unidentified person authorised two money transfers from NMC’s account at Bank of Baroda in Abu Dhabi to “Just Falafel Holdings Limited”.
The first, in July, 2015, was described as an “internal transfer” within the NMC group, suggesting it was part of the healthcare empire.
But accounts for the year ending December, 2015, for the London-listed healthcare group did not include Just Falafel as a subsidiary, nor does it appear among the hospitality interests of BRS Ventures, Dr Shetty’s UAE-based holding company.
The website of Just Falafel from 2015, now shut down, did not make any reference to a connection with NMC.
The two requests for payment were made during a turbulent year for the team behind Just Falafel that had ambitions for a global vegetarian franchise to rival McDonald’s. It had recruited one of the burger chain’s executives as chief operating officer.
It wanted to open 1,000 restaurants, but by the time it pulled out of the UK in 2015 it only had 42 worldwide, mostly in the Middle East, according to contemporary reports. Two years earlier, it had announced plans to open 200 restaurants in the UK.
"It's safe to say that we made mistakes," Mr Bitar, the managing director, told The National in 2015 when he announced the chain was being rebranded as JF Street Food.
Mr Bitar and his wife went on that year to launch a pared-down catering and consultancy business, which supplies food trucks for events in the UAE. He is listed on his LinkedIn page as founder and managing director of Just Falafel for nearly nine years until November, 2015.
One of the couple’s current company websites said that chief executive Reema Shetty “hails from an entrepreneurial family with a strong sense of social responsibility”.
In addition to her role at Foodsters Inc, she is a director at BRS Ventures and of the family’s charitable foundation, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She told The National in May, 2017, that she had started Just Falafel in 2006 and 2007 while she was working at NMC. She said she stopped working for four years from 2010 and "in the meantime, Just Falafel changed direction, so we moved on from there".
The demise of NMC was sparked by US short seller Muddy Waters who raised questions in December, 2019, about its finances and its relationship with a catering company run by another daughter, Seema.
Administrators appointed in April replaced the board of the healthcare company that operates 200 centres in 19 countries and employs 2,200 medical staff and doctors.
In a statement in April, Mr Shetty, 77, said: "To see everything that my family and I have strived to build over the past 45 years eroded over the course of a few short months, and mainly due to the misconduct and wrongdoing of people I put so much trust in, saddens me beyond words. It has also left my entire family in a perilous financial position."
He said he stepped back from a front-line executive role in 2017 but remained a joint non-executive chairman.
The sudden collapse of NMC raised questions for its auditors EY, which is under investigation by the UK accounting watchdog.
EY also faces legal action from investors in Wirecard, the payments start-up that became Europe's biggest FinTech business but filed for insolvency last week in Germany.
Dr Shetty, Mr Bitar and Ms Shetty did not respond to requests for comment. NMC administrator Alvarez & Marsal said it could not comment.
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
HAJJAN
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