Six Construct, a leading construction group, has denied any responsibility for the non-payment of salaries to employees by its sub-contractor Mercury Middle East in Bahrain.

It said in a statement that Mercury is responsible for addressing the grievances of the workers.

The clarification follows a protest by the sub-contractors' employees who had worked on a hotel project in Bahrain. The employees have allegedly not been paid for two months.

The employees were quoted by the Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper, as saying that they were originally promised to be paid last week but instead received just BD50 ($131.8) each on Sunday. A  Mercury official had claimed in the report (republished by TradeArabia) that the wages should have been paid by the main contractor Six Construct.

In the statement today, Six Construct said there had not been any strike in front of the Four Seasons Hotel, but the workers had gathered in front of the company's office.

"We fully understand the reason behind the workers' complaints regarding the delayed payment of their salaries by our sub-contractor Mercury, who is responsible for satisfying the grievances of their workers. We sympathise with the workers' plight and hope that Mercury will resolve the matter at the earliest," the statement said.

It said: "The name of Six Construct has unfortunately been misused by Mercury and provided the public with false claims.

"Though Six Construct is the main contractor, it pays Mercury in accordance to their contract. In turn, we expect Mercury to honour its agreement with its employees and workers," the statement added. – TradeArabia News Service