Reporter Ben Anderson secretly filmed workers at their accommodation

It is a place in the sun for over a
million of us who holiday there every year. It boasts a host of luxury
apartments that has celebrities flocking. But behind the glitz and
glamour of Dubai often lies a murky world of exploitation and an
immigrant work force living on the breadline.

Hit
by the credit crunch, Dubai's economy has taken a turn for the worse
reliant as it is on tourism, financial services and real estate. For
those labouring to make the Dubai dream a reality, building the homes
for the rich and famous, are facing greater pressures than ever.

But
despite the slump, the market in would-be buyers is still healthy as
Panorama's Ben Anderson discovered. Posing as a potential buyer and
kitted out with a secret camera, he met with a company endorsed by
celebrities. Michael Owen is a paid ambassador along with Freddie
Flintoff and golfer Sam Torrance.

Sales representatives from The First Group assured our reporter that now was a great time to buy property.

She also allayed any concerns about the wellbeing of the company's construction workers.

Dubai's detailed housing rules

Offering
a purchase that would see a £438,000 apartment rise to £1.33 million in
just ten years, the sales reps also said they believed the workers were
happy to be there. "It's much more difficult to earn some money in
Pakistan or India, so people actually save by living for free in proper
housing, eating for free in the canteen, using the transport and
sending something to their families."

Land of opportunity

It
is the promise of a land of opportunity that has brought an estimated
one million migrant workers to Dubai. Most come from areas of extreme
poverty in the Indian sub-continent where they are easy prey for
recruitment agents. Paying up to £2,000 pounds to make the trip, the
sum often has to be borrowed or family land sold in the belief that
within 18 months the debt can be repaid.

Instead, on
arriving in Dubai they are met with shanty town conditions hidden from
public view. In a country that penalises journalists reporting stories
which negatively reflect the economy or insult the government with
massive fines and in the past even imprisonment, Panorama had to
maintain a low profile.

In secret, Ben Anderson
followed a group of workers home from work. Employed by The First
Group's sub-contractors United Engineering Construction, they were
working on a development due to be finished in June ready for Michael
Owen to move in.

Back at the worker's camp Ben was
soon rumbled and asked to leave. Returning over the next few days he
finally managed to speak to some of the men living there on condition
of anonymity.

"We suffer greatly"

They
told a grim tale. None had been paid the money they were promised by
the recruitment agencies and many said they could not afford to eat
properly, living on a diet of mashed potatoes and lentils.

Six day shifts of 12 hours fetch as little as £120 a month

Average salaries are often no more than £120 a
month. This for a six-day week, often working up to 12 hour shifts. One
company paid approximately 30 pence an hour for overtime.

UNEC
said that its minimum basic salary and overtime rate were significantly
higher and that employees only worked 12 hour days in exceptional
circumstances.

It said its workers were fully aware
of their proposed terms of employment before travelling to Dubai and
that it "wholly disapproved" of workers paying recruitment agents. It
also said that it only recruited through one agency in India, but the
workers we spoke to came from elsewhere.

The First Group said its own checks had confirmed that the pay and conditions at the camp were legal.

The camp is a world away from the penthouses these construction workers were building. But this is not an isolated example.

One
of Dubai's biggest new developments is The Jumeirah Golf Estates, which
will host the climax of the European Golf championship in November. The
main developer is Leisurecorp, which also owns the championship golf
course at Turnberry in Scotland, and has a stake in Troon. Jumeirah
Golf Estates has attracted an incredible array of celebrities who are
named as ambassadors on its website , including Jamie Oliver, Greg
Norman, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia.

Our reporter
once again followed workers back to their accommodation. This time they
were employed by one of Dubai's biggest construction firms Arabtec to
work on a part of the development that had been sold to a
sub-developer, but the picture was familiar.

After an
hour-long journey back to their gated and guarded labour camp, the men
agreed to speak to Panorama if their identities were kept secret for
fear of retribution.

Armed with a secret camera Ben
sneaked into the camp to be met with the smell of raw sewage. Sewage
had leaked out all over the camp, and workers had to create a network
stepping stones to cross it and get back to their accommodation blocks.
One toilet block had no water supply and the latrines were filled with
piles of raw faeces.

Overcrowded

Documents
obtained by Panorama showed that a month previous to the programme's
visit, the Dubai authorities described the sewage situation at the site
critical. Arabtec had been fined 10,000 dirhams, approximately £2,000,
for allowing sewage to overflow into workers' accommodation.

Over one million immigrants are believed to be working in Dubai

The authorities also reported that the camp was overcrowded with 7,500 labourers sharing 1,248 rooms with poor ventilation.

But with the downturn in the economy, the workers feel less able to complain.

One
Arabtec worker who earns just £140 a month for a six day week, told our
reporter that his family at home don't know about the reality of his
situation. "We have not told them because if we do, our wives and our
children will start crying, so we have told them we are doing well".

The
Dubai Municipal government said in a statement that regular inspections
are carried out of migrant workers' living conditions and fines levied
for substandard housing.

Arabtec said it did not
accept that there were unsanitary conditions at any of its camps'
toilets. It blamed the workers, saying, despite training, their
"standards of cleanliness and hygiene are not up to your or our
standards" and that the toilet block we had filmed in may have been a
block that was meant to be closed.

It now says it is
concerned about the situation, and despite originally blaming the
problems on a nearby sewage plant, admitted sewage in the camp was a
constant problem it was battling to resolve. They said the camp was a
temporary one and all workers will be moved out in eight months.

It
said that its wage levels were the Dubai norm and the basic working
week was 48 hours and overtime was paid for any hours over that.

In
a statement to Panorama, Jamie Oliver Enterprises said they were
disturbed by the issues raised: "When we started work with our partner
in Dubai, we were informed of their strict contractual guidelines which
are in place with sub-developers to protect the rights of migrant
workers and provide for good living and working conditions.

"While
we are satisfied that the sub-contractors employed directly by our
partner to work on Jamie Oliver projects meet the regulatory
requirements and are fair, we have been given further assurances that
the claims made by employees working on a sub-developer's project will
be investigated."

Panorama has also been told that
Jamie Oliver now wants to come up with more accurate wording to
describe his business relationship with Jumeirah Golf Estates.

In the meantime, the celebrity chef's name has been removed from the list of ambassadors on the company's website.