Email: [email protected] Gulf Daily News Monday, 4th March 2013 7 Financial curbs on airlines ‘monitored’ By Ahmed Al OmAri conditions governing that rela- tionship, save to the extent that ’s banking these are contrary to a specific watchdog says it is monitor- cuts 15 per cent of staff rule of law or regulation,” said ing the country’s financial the CBB in a statement to the GDN. institutions as they impose Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf air has increased to 15pc,” the carrier, which had anti-government protests over the past two precautionary restrictions cut 15 per cent of its staff to date and approximately 4,000 staff last year, said in a years, have reduced passenger numbers for “Without a thorough investi- dropped four loss-making routes as part of statement. it did not specify how many more carriers in the kingdom. gation into each and every rela- on Gulf Air and Bahrain tionship, it would be impossi- Air staff. its restructuring, the carrier said yesterday. jobs might be lost. smaller carrier Bahrain air shut down Gulf air, which has cut its fleet to cope Gulf air chief executive samer Majali, last month, blaming political unrest and the ble for the Central Bank or any- The Central Bank of Bahrain with tough market conditions, said further brought in to restructure the airline’s oper- government’s refusal to pay it compensa- one to say with any certainty (CBB) pledged it would take adjustments would be made across all lev- ations in 2009, resigned in november last tion. whether rights or obligations action if appropriate, after els of its organisation, but that it was on year. Last november Gulf air cut its order have been violated. Bahrain Air announced it was track to complete all big workforce-related Competition from other Middle East air- for Boeing 787 Dreamliners to 12-16 planes “The Central Bank is how- going into voluntary liquida- changes in the second quarter of 2013. lines such as abu Dhabi’s Etihad, Qatar from an earlier order of 24. ever aware of the general nature tion last month and Gulf Air “in January a total workforce reduction airways and -based Emirates, and the it also revised a deal with airbus. it cur- of these developments and we commenced a major downsiz- of six per cent was realised. This to date has damage to Bahrain’s tourism industry from rently has a fleet of 26 aircraft. continue to monitor the situa- ing that involves redundancies. tion closely and will take action The GDN reported last week they could prove they were The measures have been be given 15 days’ notice of their rules were defined by individu- where we consider appropri- that banks had frozen the per- employed. introduced amid fears that staff credit cards being frozen, while al contracts between banks and ate.” sonal accounts of Bahrain Air It has now emerged that laid off by the airlines, particu- lawyer, former MP and member their customers – unless they The GDN saw an internal staff. at least one bank, Standard larly foreigners, could leave of the National Institution for violated a specific regulation. memo to staff at a branch of This followed news that Chartered Bank, is no longer the country after getting their Human Rights Fareed Ghazi “The precise rights and obli- Standard Chartered yesterday Credimax had suspend- immediately accepting cheques severance packages without said banks must obtain a court gations that exist between a informing them not to immedi- ed accounts of all Bahrain written by Gulf Air if the ben- paying off their loans. order before a personal account bank or credit card issuer and ately accept cheques written by Air employees, as well as eficiary has outstanding loans A senior banker told the GDN could be frozen. its customers are primarily Gulf Air and two other com- expat staff at Gulf Air, until or credit card debt. last week that customers should However, the CBB said the determined by the terms and panies. An official at the bank said this was an instruction from management, but did not mean that the cheques would be refused. “It doesn’t mean that the cheque has been refused, but that we want to check if that person (the beneficiary) is still working at the company,” said the source. Foreigners “The (Gulf Air) redundancy packages are being given as cheques and if we just cash them, it can leave the bank with all the debt (from outstanding loans and credit cards). “This is especially for for- eigners, as they can take their money and leave the country with a lot of debt. “But if a person comes in with no debt or credit card, the cheque will be approved n More than 100 students have taken part in AIESEC Bahrain’s ninth annual National Training Conference (Natco) held at Bahrain Polytechnic, Isa Town. Local immediately. and international universities took part in the event, which consisted of intensive theoretical and practical workshops delivered by 14 facilitators from Bahrain, “If not, the person will have Greece, Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, Russia and Poland. It focused on functional training, leadership, project management and member development. Above, to settle loans and cancel their participants at the event credit card service if they have one. “An alternative is to prove employment elsewhere.” drunk man strips The source explained that those unable to pay off their debts might have their assets in airport drama held, but claimed this was with- A NEPALESE man who was held by airport in the rights of the bank. security in Bahrain stripped in protest of his “When anyone takes a loan detention. they have to supply a trans- The transit passenger was reportedly intoxi- fer salary form signed by their cated before boarding his flight to employer,” the source said. on Saturday and was disturbing others at “That form states that the Bahrain International Airport, said sources. employer will transfer the sev- Security personnel intervened and escort him erance package to the bank. away from the crowd. However, the man then “That is why we are able to started to take off his clothes. hold those cheques until the An airport official confirmed the incident debts have been settled.” and said it did not happen in a public area. The Bahrain Association of “The transit passenger arrived from n A spring fashion campaign launched at Bahrain City Centre yesterday continues until the end of the month. It Banks could not be reached Dubai and was waiting to board a flight to features a fashion display, a prize draw on April 1, a Zumba party at 9am on March 16 to mark Mother’s Day and for comment yesterday, while Kathmandu,” he said. free treatments and consultations from March 27 to 30. Two hundred mother-daughter teams can register for the Standard Chartered Bank did Last year, an Ethiopian housemaid tried to Zumba contest, with a free spa package on offer for the winners. Above, City Centre senior mall manager Duaij not officially comment. strip at the airport while she was being deported. Khalifa Al Rumaihi, second from right, with staff at the launch. [email protected]