Fund 'compliant with sharia law' runs into trouble

DUBAI: A multinational property company, which will next year launch what it claims will be the first global investment fund compliant with sharia law, is facing complaints that it has broken a Muslim entreaty by refusing to treat with "honour and dignity" the workers who clean its US headquarters in Indianapolis.

HDG Mansur plans to launch the Al-Umran Global Property Fund on the London and Dubai stock exchanges.

Unions and a religious group have held prayer meetings demanding the right for cleaners to join a union and receive higher pay, health insurance, holidays and sick pay. In Dubai, Harold Garrison, Mansur's chairman, said: "We are obviously upset that the people who clean our offices feel they are being hurt and badly used but we are not in a position to intervene legally. The building is owned by a third party who employ Executive Management Services . . . It would be illegal for us to sack them."

He added: "We are also told they are paid $7.20 (€4.90) an hour, which is above the minimum wage. We also disagree with the interpretation of the imam about our duties . . . We have consulted Muslim scholars who say our practices make the fund sharia-compliant."

© 2007 Guardian Service

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times