Dozens of Jordanian military retirees are in Qatar to take part in security for the World Cup.

Jordanian military retirees who were deployed to Qatar to take part in World Cup security held an urgent meeting with authorities in the Gulf state on Wednesday, after dozens of employees accused the Amman-based company of fraud.

The Qatari committee in charge met with the Jordanian retirees to review “legitimate” demands by the staff members, with a further meeting with Qatar’s Minister of Interior General Nasser Al Mesfer and the Jordanian ambassador to Qatar scheduled for Friday.

The meeting on Thursday was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Al Hajri, a representative of the Qatari team.

The officials assured all outstanding issues will be resolved, with reports citing Al Mesfer as advising the Jordanian military retirees to avoid holding illegal gatherings in the Gulf state.

A video clip that circulated online showed a number of retirees protesting and accusing the Amman-based company of fraud. They say they were promised a specific amount of money for their service before being deployed to Qatar, but now accuse the Jordanian company of refusing to pay them the amount, a Roya News report detailed.

One of the retirees said the company failed to abide by the terms of the contract, prompting an angry response from the visiting retirees, the report noted. They say this only became clear after they arrived in Qatar.

In a letter, the employees urged relevant authorities in Qatar to intervene in order to resolve the issue and guarantee their rights, specifically calling for the termination of their contract with the company in Jordan.

The company’s administrator, according to reports, has expressed his “responsiveness” in dealing with the matter to ensure demands of the signatories to the contracts are safeguarded and dealt with.

According to a source in the Military Retirees Association who spoke to Roya, Qatari authorities are now attempting to push the company to pay $5,000 to each of the protesters to achieve equal wages among all contractors.

The company has allegedly contracted 4,000 military retirees to participate in security operations for the World Cup in Qatar, with each of them receiving 3,500 Jordanian dinars for a period of up to 45 days, Roya learnt.

The dispute reportedly stems from the company’s decision to pay 700 Jordanian dinars to each individual without clarifying the date and values ​​of the remaining payments.

Official Spokesman of the Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Sinan Al Majali said on Thursday that the ministry, through its embassy in Qatar, is coordinating with the concerned authorities to look into wether the Jordan-based private company breached its “contractual obligations”.

Doha News has reached out to authorities in Qatar but has yet to receive a response.

Majali said that the ministry highly values ​​Qatar’s full cooperation in dealing with the issue that has erupted between the Jordanian nationals and the private company they contracted with.

Majali further emphasised that the ministry will provide the necessary support to ensure the private company’s commitment to grant the retirees’ legal rights is in accordance with the legal frameworks.

The official spokesman stressed that Qatar’s role as host nation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup is an “achievement for all Arabs,” and that Amman is keen on the success of this tournament.

The retirees were recently deployed to Qatar, with just weeks to kick off at this year’s World Cup.

The deployment of the Jordanians comes as part of the host nation’s aim to improve security efforts during the tournament. The security jobs were offered to retired Jordanian soldiers who are joining for a limited period.

Jordan’s Security Directorate’s announced an advertisement on Ammon News late July offering security jobs at the Qatar World Cup for previously serving personnel under the age of 45.

“With cooperation from the brotherly Qatari side, it is intended to include a number of military retirees in the duty of preserving order in the World Cup,” the advert said, noting field and operational” experience are mandatory.

The Hashemite Kingdom would be joining other countries in helping secure the World Cup, with at least 1.5 million fans expected to flock to Doha for the tournament.