England’s WAGs are staying on a cruise ship owned by an organization that’s being investigated for using ‘slave labour,’ MailOnline can reveal.
Three ships belonging to MSC Cruises, one in every of the most important cruise line corporations on this planet, are docked in Doha port to offer luxury accommodation for WAGs and other World Cup fans.
Among the many WAGs expected to remain on the lavish £1billion MSC World Europa, dubbed HMS WAG is Jack Grealish’s girlfriend Sasha Attwood, England defender Eric Dier’s partner Anna Modler and Marcus Rashford’s fiancé Lucia Loi.
Two other MSC ships in Doha’s port providing accommodation for fans and other celebrities are the MSC Opera and MSC Poesia.
But while guests live it up in eye-watering luxury, with packages to remain on board costing as much as £6,000 MSC Cruises, which owns and operates the ships, is being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over claims that Cuban staff were subject to ‘slave-like’ conditions.
The sensational allegations were uncovered by Spain based human rights group Prisoners Defenders, which has submitted an in depth dossier to the ICC containing testimonies and other evidence from greater than 1,000 Cuban staff on their treatment while working on MSC ships and in other industries world wide.
Among the many allegations are that they only received 20 per cent of their salaries with the rest going to the communist Cuban government to assist it collect vital foreign currency reserves and that MSC officials took their passports.
The corporate that owns the £1billion cruise ship MSC World Europa (pictured above) is being investigated for ‘slave labour’
Staff on ships owned by MSC Cruises, who own MSC World Europa, have been paid lower than £100 a month it’s claimed
England’s WAGs will probably be staying on the lavish cruise liner through the World Cup, including Eric Dier’s partner Anna Modler
Aaron Ramsdale’s fiancé Georgina Irwin (above) can be set to survive the cruise ship for a month through the Qatar World Cup
The Cuban ship staff were required to work a minimum 40 hours per week. In its evidence Prisoners Defenders highlighted the case of 1 former MSC worker who was paid £357 per 30 days however the Cuban Government received £275 of this. One other had a base salary of £287 of which £229 went to the Cuban state.
The dossier, which has also been submitted to the United Nations states: ‘Victims declare that the staff of MSC Cruises became for them an extension of the repression of the Cuban regime.’
Prisoners Defenders has been conducting its investigation over the past five years. Two of the ships that it highlighted as using Cuban ‘slaves’ are the MSC Opera and MSC Poesia that are getting used for the World Cup.
The MSC World Europa is a recent ship which had its naming ceremony in Doha over the weekend.
Jack Grealish’s girlfriend Sasha Attwood (pictured together) will probably be living on the cruise ship through the World Cup in Qatar
Marcus Rashford’s fiancé Lucia Loi is anticipated to remain on MSC World Europa while the Man United star represents England
Further claims made through the investigation was that Filipino staff on MSC ships were also subject to an 80 per cent reduction of their salaries, which is believed to have been paid to personal agents and that they were treated in an ‘exploitative, ugly way’ often doing essentially the most menial jobs below deck.
Javier Larrondo, director of Prisoners Defenders told MailOnline: ‘Why is an organization that’s being investigated by the ICC for human rights violations allowed to be on the World Cup and profit from it?
‘I’m sure that most of the wealthy, high-profile people on board their ships and strange fans don’t know concerning the way MSC operates.’
MSC World Europa boasts an incredible six swimming pools, 14 ocean-view whirlpools, and a 643ft promenade.
There’s also an 11-deck high helter skelter called The Venom Drop — at 75m it’s the tallest slide on any ship on this planet.
Guests are in for an exhilarating time on The Venom Drop, which at 75m is the tallest slide on any ship on this planet
England’s WAGs are expected to be amongst 6,762 guests in 2,633 cabins.
MSC Opera is a 2004-built cruise ship with capability for two,700 passengers. She underwent an intensive renovation in 2015 and has her own shopping center in addition to other luxurious amenities.
MSC Poesia can hold 3,000 passengers and is described as ‘elegant’ boasting swimming pools and luxury bars.
Through the World Cup, the most cost effective room on any of the three MSC ships in Doha port will cost almost £400 per night with fans required to book a minimum of two nights.
Mr Larrondo fumed: ‘Little doubt the gorgeous wives and girlfriends of the players and fans from world wide could have an exquisite time staying on MSC’s luxurious ships. Who wouldn’t? But I hope they now change their minds.
‘The involvement of MSC is just one other sorry chapter in a World Cup that has been overshadowed by exploitation and human rights violations. This will not be what football needs to be about.’
The ICC has also been presented with contracts given to Cuban MSC staff showing that a maximum 80 per cent of their salaries may very well be deducted.
MSC hired its Cuban staff through the Selecmar agency in Havana which is an element of the country’s government and sends hundreds of its residents world wide to work in various industries.
In line with campaigners this generates the federal government a staggering $8billion (£6.7bn) per 12 months and is its predominant source of foreign revenue.
Along with 13 restaurants and bars, the cruise liner includes a micro-brewery and mixology classes in its Elixir gin bar
The cruise ship also has jacuzzis and 6 swimming pools for guests to enjoy during their stay, which can overlook Doha
MSC insisted that it not employed Cuban staff but accepted that it did pay a proportion of their wages to Cuban authorities because it was a ‘regulatory requirement.’
It said in an announcement: ‘We’re aware of Prisoner Defender’s report, which represents an motion against the Cuban government for his or her management of crew salaries, not against cruise lines or MSC Cruises. It makes some extraordinary allegations about our conduct, which we absolutely refute.
‘Like all shipping corporations once we had operations on Cuba – which we not do – we had to interact our Cuban crew members through Selecmar, which was a requirement of the Cuban authorities. While now we have all the time paid the total salary of each crew member ever employed on our fleet, local regulatory requirements meant that a part of this was provided to the Cuban Authorities for allocation to the families of Cuban crew members.’
Responding to allegations over the mistreatment of Filipino staff the corporate admitted that it paid percentage of their salaries ‘via agencies’ and this stays in place.
It added: ‘That is a superbly normal arrangement in certain jurisdictions, and we are going to all the time follow the legal requirements of the countries our crew come from alongside providing good working conditions and competitive pay packages to draw them.’
