J&P Overseas, a subsidiary of Cyprus’ construction industry flagship Joannou & Paraskevaides Group, has sold its stake in Jordan's Queen Alia International Airport to pay the employees of its embattled subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, said a report.

In a paid advertorial in the daily Phileleftheros on Wednesday, the company said it has collected €120 million ($147 million) representing its share from the sale of Queen Alia airport in Jordan, and was now in a position to fund its subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, which was having problems paying its staff, reported Cyprus Mail.

At the end of March, in a leaked letter addressed to the company’s director Andreas Papathomas, J&P Overseas (JPO) workers based in Saudi Arabia, including several dozen Cypriots, said that as a result of the company’s failure to fulfil its obligations to its staff, around 6,700 of them had to live under miserable conditions, as they lacked funds to even buy food, stated the report.

Workers said they had no access to water at the construction sites in the kingdom which in turn was affecting sanitation, said the Cyprus Mail report.

The workers complained that J&P Overseas had also failed to pay for the renewal of work permits and as a result workers risked imprisonment, it added.