“I am not unreasonable” – how Irshaad Kariman funds his luxurious lifestyle on the backs of refugee workers

The latest Horeca United/Vloerwerk campaign highlights the precarious situation of refugee Ukrainian workers, as well as the unscrupulous entrepreneurs who take advantage of this. Through an episode of BOOS, the spotlight has been placed on one of them, Irshaad Mohammed Ashif Kariman. And although Kariman has been put on notice, the payment arrears have not yet been cleared. His story is one that we encounter more often in the cleaning industry. Smooth talkers who live beyond their means at the expense of workers.

Many Ukrainians work in the cleaning industry. Unlike other refugees, those with a Ukrainian passport are allowed to work in the Netherlands immediately upon arrival. This due the 2014 Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine and the 2022 EU candidate membership. As a result, more Ukrainian workers are employed within the European Union. Since the 2017 entry into force of the Association Agreement, these workers have mainly worked in countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary. However, since the 2021 Russian invasion, many Ukrainian workers have also moved to the Netherlands. Within our workers’ collectives, Horeca United and Vloerwerk, we therefore receive more requests from these Ukrainian workers. Organizations like the FNV refuse to help these workers because they are not or have been members of this union for too short a time. However, Horeca United/Vloerwerk does not work with paid memberships but acts on the basis of solidarity principles. As a result, we can help them.

Read the (illustrated) Dutch original text here. Hier lees je de originele Nederlandstalige tekst (met illustraties).

Ukrainian refugees work hard. Life in the Netherlands is expensive, and Ukrainian workers often need money to support others, usually family. And although many Ukrainian refugees quickly find work, their employment situation is precarious. Ukrainian workers do not always speak English or Dutch, are often ill-informed about labor rights, and do not always know how to find their way to solidarity networks. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of exploitation because employers like Irshaad Kariman take advantage of this precariousness. For example, Kariman actively approaches Ukrainian workers while refusing to pay them. Through a shady network of companies at ghost addresses, changing phone numbers, and extreme shielding measures, Kariman goes into hiding when held accountable.

Patterns

Irshaad Kariman’s practices show patterns. Kariman actively searches for work on social media and advertising sites; this can be cleaning work in the hospitality industry, cleanup work, or carpet cleaning. Kariman often offers these services for free or at a very low cost in the hope of securing permanent contracts. When assignments come in, Kariman actively looks for workers who are poorly informed about their rights, have weaker social networks, or do not speak Dutch or English. He pays these workers little or nothing, but keeps them on the hook for a long time so they continue to do work for them. When the patience of the workers runs out, Kariman deliberately seeks confrontation, then claims he feels threatened and never responds again. Kariman disappears then and leaves workers empty-handed. A brief check with the clients also exposes his deceiving practices to them. Kariman does not keep agreements, entices clients with ‘teaser rates’, and costs are consistently understated. In short, it is not only the workers who are duped by Kariman.

When the net closes, Kariman declares bankruptcy or shuts down his businesses. He has had several bankrupt cleaning companies, of which Glanstastisch was just one. He places all these companies under different holdings for tax benefits and to complicate personal liability.

Contact

By creating many smokescreens, it has been a big challenge to get in touch with Irshaad Kariman. Horeca United/Vloerwerk has invested a lot of time in this. We, for example, visited all the known company addresses, contacted the partners of his holdings, and sent several registered letters. His so-called partners turned out to be mainly straw men, the addresses were all mailbox companies, and all phone numbers were unreachable. The only way to get hold of Kariman was to assign a task to his company Glanstastisch or to apply as an employee. After consultation with the workers, we decided that the latter could best be achieved through national media. Horeca United/Vloerwerk has good experiences with the investigative journalism program BOOS. Therefore, we contacted them. Contact with the media is one step within our escalation scale at Horeca United/Vloerwerk. After intensive research, BOOS managed to find Irshaad Kariman and confront him with his exploitation practices.

The episode (see for the link below) underscores how Kariman operates. He takes advantage of people in precarious situations, throws up smokescreens, and lies to the camera. Without a shred of empathy for the exploited workers, Kariman plays the victim and mainly points fingers at others. With euphemisms like ‘I’m not unreasonable,’ he refuses to take responsibility and pay hard-working workers.

Misuse of blocked bank accounts

In the broadcast, Kariman throws up various smokescreens. For example, he claims that the wages of two specific workers have been deposited into a specific blocked bank account (in Dutch: “g-rekening”) that he cannot access. Such a claim is remarkable because such a g-rekening is a bank account intended to secure the payment of wage tax and VAT; not wage payments. Such specific accounts are common because they protect hirers of personnel from liability and give priority to creditors such as the tax authorities. In short, a hirer does not deposit wages into such an account. Therefore, Kariman’s statement in the episode that the wages are on the g-rekening is not convincing because such practices are illegal.

Kariman then points to the hotel with which he jointly opened such an account. We called the hotel and they told us that they deposited the money for the levies/taxes was deposited into this g-rekening and the money to pay for loans into the account of Kariman’s business. The hotel further told us that it is of no use to deposit the wages into the g-rekening because such a bank account is one only the tax authorities can access. The hotel told us that neither Kariman nor the hotel benefits from depositing money on such an account. Further talks with specialists confirmed the previous. As a consequence, we have strong reasons to doubt Kariman’s claims.

One thing is clear: the wages for several Ukrainian workers have not been paid for months. It appears that Kariman has used this money for his own use. Employees point to Kariman’s lifestyle of fast cars, expensive clothing — in the BOOS episode, he wears a Gucci jacket worth a few thousand euros — hotel stays, and dinners. Additionally, several comments on the BOOS episode suggest that Kariman has a gambling problem and that the wages were likely spent on this as well. Although gambling addiction is a serious problem, Kariman should look for help instead of robbing wages from hard-working refugee Ukrainians.

The old company is dead, long live the new company

In the BOOS episode, Kariman suggests that he is in a debt relief-program because he is bankrupt. However, when we look at Kariman’s recent activities, we get a different picture. Admittedly, Kariman had Glanstastisch declared bankrupt in August 2024, but not the holding company under which Glanstastisch falls. In fact, Kariman has started a new cleaning company under the same holding: Zuiver & Zeker Schoon. However, when you are in debt restructuring, it is rare that you are allowed to own companies. Especially not when you make such a mess of it as Kariman. Debt restructuring programs almost always pressure you to become an employee so that a constant income can be generated as a security for debt-collectors.

Everything indicates that Kariman is simply continuing in the same way. The office address plus the website of the new company are similar to Glanstastisch. Moreover, Zuiver & Zeker Schoon is recruiting new cleaners and angles for jobs. Everything suggests that Kariman has only changed the name. He probably realized after an episode on national TV the name of his old company is tainted.

Based on the above, we conclude that Irshaad Kariman is still trying to exploit workers with a carousel of companies, smokescreens, and lies. However, Horeca United/Vloerwerk is keeping an eye on Kariman and will actively prevent him from continuing such practices. What helps in this regard is that he consistently deceives clients as well, and due to the BOOS episode, he can no longer hide in the shadows.

Horeca United/Vloerwerk will also not rest until the wages are paid in full to the last cent. We have now built up an extensive archive and are considering the next steps in our escalation model. Some workers have already summoned him for labour court, a step we support. Exploiters like Irshaad Kariman can set up complex structures to deceive workers, but worker solidarity will eventually prevail.

Quintus Masius via Horeca United/Vloerwerk

Update

The bankruptcy of Glanstastisch Schoon B.V. has been published in the Dutch Central Insolvency Register. With the bankruptcy of Kariman, the employees are now entitled to bankruptcy benefits. However, due to poor registration, not all worked hours can be traced, and workers only can claim a maximum of 13 workweeks. Several things stand out in the bankruptcy document.

Kariman leased two cars and had debts of more than fifty thousand euros, mainly to the tax authorities. According to Kariman, the main cause of the bankruptcy was that he could not manage the costs due to the competitive nature of the cleaning industry. According to him, it was impossible to make his cleaning business profitable. The rates Kariman received from his clients was too low to cover the wage costs and fixed charges (page 4).

It is therefore remarkable that Kariman, despite the above, is starting another cleaning company again (Zuiver & Zeker Schoon) again and is recruiting employees. There is no indication that Kariman has learned any lesson, and we must therefore keep a close eye on him.