A second food business connected to the daughter of NMC founder BR Shetty received money from the stricken hospital group before it collapsed under billions of dollars of debt, new documents seen by The National reveal.
NMC Healthcare, a subsidiary, signed off on five bank transfers totalling Dh4 million in little more than two months in 2016 to the UAE catering and food consultancy company, The Foodsters Inc, headed by businesswoman Reema Shetty.
The series of proposed payments, from Dh500,000 to Dh1m, approved by NMC raise concerns of potential wrongdoing because they were labelled as internal transfers within the hospital group, a forensic accountant told this newspaper.
The revelations pile pressure on the group's billionaire founder to explain money flows from the hospital group after The National revealed last week that NMC Healthcare had signed off on payments of Dh2m in 2015 to a separate food company headed by Ms Shetty's husband.
Mr Shetty was NMC's chief executive and executive vice chairman at the time of the five proposed payments from September to November 2016 that were approved by an unidentified authorised signatory.
Most of the payments were described as transfers within the NMC group even though The Foodsters was not listed as being a subsidiary of NMC Health in company documents.
Financial experts said the round payments were unusual if The Foodsters had been providing catering – and any transfers should not have been described as internal movements of money.
If the group does not own the food company “then it’s not an internal transfer”, said forensic accountant Roger Isaacs of Milsted Langdon in the UK.
“In the corporate world, it must either be one of three things – you are either buying goods or services, you are lending some money or you are repaying a debt,” he said.
He said the proposed payments sounded suspicious.
“If the shares are owned by the PLC [public limited company], it should still be listed in the PLC accounts.”
Mr Shetty, Ms Shetty and their representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The former London-listed NMC holding company was forced into administration in April amid claims of fraud, mismanagement and the discovery of undisclosed loans of $4.1 billion (Dh15bn).
Administrators Alvarez & Marsal said last month they were trawling hundreds of thousands of documents and preparing a series of interviews with directors to try to find out what could be retrieved for creditors.
The administrators declined to comment on whether they had yet spoken with Mr Shetty. He has blamed a small group of former and current executives and claimed they had signed off on “many fraudulent transfers” that he did not know about before the company went into administration.
He said he would work “tirelessly to clear my name” and that events since December 2019 had shocked him as much as anyone else.
“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,” he said in April. “It has also left my entire family in a perilous financial position.”
The proposed payments are detailed in transfer request documents sent by NMC Healthcare to the Abu Dhabi branch of the Bank of Baroda.
They identified the beneficiary as “The Foodsters Investment in Commercial Enterprises” with an account with Mashreq Bank in Abu Dhabi. The company is listed in a UAE business directory with a link to the website of The Foodsters Inc.
The National has also viewed an internal bank document that confirmed one payment for Dh1m had been processed by Bank of Baroda. Financial experts who viewed the documents on behalf of The National said they appeared to be genuine.
The Foodsters Inc was set up in 2015 by Ms Shetty and her husband Mohamad Bitar after the failure of a global expansion of fast-food business Just Falafel, which they founded about a decade earlier.
Ms Shetty is chief executive of The Foodsters, which supplies food lorries selling burgers and fried chicken to events in the UAE. It also provides event catering and consultancy.
“As [chief executive] of the Foodsters, one of her main objectives is to ensure the company supports as many families as possible through employment while maintaining an efficient operating structure,” reads a description of Ms Shetty on one of the company’s websites.
“She brings [a] few important lessons to the table ... Establish a solid foundation, maintain a family environment, love what you do, research and innovate, be ethical, give back, dream.”
The first payment request for Dh1m in September 2016 was made a day after The Foodsters announced the launch of a new season of food events on its Instagram channel.
Over the next two months when the payments were made, the company attended events such as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and a technology show at the Dubai World Trade Centre. It also launched a new fried chicken brand.
Its last post on Instagram and Facebook was in November 2019, in which it promoted its food products at the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
One month later, an activist investor raised concerns of activity at NMC Health that bore all the “hallmarks of significant fraud”, sparking the group’s eventual demise.
The collapse of the former FTSE-100-listed company has sparked calls for a British parliamentary inquiry.
“Events at NMC Health represent the most serious governance failure at a UK-listed company in recent years,” said Tom Powdrill, head of stewardship at the London corporate consultancy Pirc.
“It is still unclear how the company’s true financial position remained hidden; therefore, there should be a formal response to these disclosures. The NMC case is an embarrassment to the UK’s corporate governance regime.”
Euro 2020
Group A: Italy, Switzerland, Wales, Turkey
Group B: Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria,
Georgia/Kosovo/Belarus/North Macedonia
Group D: England, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Scotland/Israel/Norway/Serbia
Group E: Spain, Poland, Sweden,
N.Ireland/Bosnia/Slovakia/Ireland
Group F: Germany, France, Portugal,
Iceland/Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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MATCH INFO
Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')
Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
UAE%20ILT20
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
Price: From Dh750k
On sale: via special order
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
