The Finance Police of the Provincial Command of Trento have ordered the seizure of assets and financial resources for over 521 thousand euros, against 7 Pakistani citizens and an Italian woman for the alleged crime of illicit intermediation and exploitation of labor and violation of immigration laws.
According to the reconstruction of the investigations for the period from 2020 to 2023, the managers of a company based in Vallagarinaoperating in the paper and cardboard production sector, abusing the state of need of several employees, determined by the need for them to obtain a residence permit for work reasons and to be able to support their family of origin in Pakistan, subjected them to conditions of exploitation at work.
From the complex investigations, carried out through technical activities, targeted access and searches, questioning of various witnesses and financial investigations, it emerges that, although the workers were found to be employed under contracts part-time, in reality they were forced to accept work shifts, from 9 to 13 hours a dayfar exceeding both the legal limit of 48 hours per week and the 250 hours of annual overtime.
The discovery of a “ledger” and copious extra-accounting documentation kept by the suspects has allowed us to reconstruct a series of numerous irregularities.
In fact, in the face of a formally correct pay slip showing a monthly salary ranging from 1,000 to 1,800 euros, the employees, after receiving the credit, were forced to back down in cashto employers, a large part of the salary.
In several cases, based on the activities reconstructed so far, it was also workers asked to go to “money transfer” offices to make money transfers abroad (Pakistan) to unknown individuals but indicated by the employers themselves. The investigations carried out on the “money transfers” have allowed to ascertain that, in the space of just one year, over 102,000.00 euros were transferred abroad, illegally. From the reconstruction of the accounting data acquired, the Finance Police have ascertained that the employees,
in fact, they received a variable compensation from 500 to 700 euros per monthequal to an effective hourly wage of 4 – 5 euros per hour.
During the course of their service, it was discovered that the employees were not given either their contracts or their pay slips, making them unaware of both their rights and their entitlements.
According to the investigations, the aforementioned pay slips were artfully modified in such a way as not to report, on the one hand, the actual number of hours worked, and on the other, the fictitious indication of permits, holidays, the thirteenth salary and the severance pay installments.
Furthermore, despite the company declaring the availability for employees of accommodation and meal vouchers, as fringe benefits, to take advantage of these utilities workers had to pay a monthly sum of up to 200 euros “under the table” for the bed-space (in accommodation with 10/15 other compatriots) and were also obliged to do their food shopping, for approximately 150 euros per month, at a shop linked to some of the suspects, where, over the course of three years, they “cashed in” almost 22,000 electronic meal vouchers, equal to over 152,000.00 euros.
All this allowed the investigated company to obtain the tax benefit given by the deduction of the aforementioned costs and, therefore, to reduce the amounts to be paid to the State, via F24, both as taxes and as contributions at its expense.
At the same time, the execution of further checks – carried out by the Finance Police together with the Fire Brigade and the personnel of the Operational Unit for Prevention and Safety in Workplaces (Uopsal) of the Provincial Health Services Company of the PAT – brought to light numerous violations of the regulations on safety and hygiene in the workplace. As the documents stand, the conduct indicated above, allowing significant savings in personnel costs and on work safety, allowed the company a position of competitive advantage and to offer its customers very competitive prices compared to the market.
In the operational context, the Guardia di Finanza discovered that the suspects, in various capacities, in order to promote the irregular stay on the territory of the State of some Pakistani citizens, taking advantage of the regularization for the emergence of employment relationships, reserved for domestic workers, they induced some employees of the company to hire, as family collaborators, the irregular citizens in exchange for payment by the latter of a fee equal to 6 thousand euros.
Taking into account the evidentiary framework acquired and the responsibilities that emerged against the defendants, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rovereto requested and obtained from the GIP of the local Court the preventive seizure resulting from the illicit activity carried out by the companyequal to the wages not paid to workers and the related undue savings in contributions.
In the execution phase of the judicial order, the Trentino Guardia di Finanza therefore seized 8 real estate units and 1 plot of land, all located in Rovereto, 3 motor vehicles, company shares and financial resources deposited in the current accounts of the company and of the defendants.
Following the investigations, the judicial authority issued a notice of closure of the preliminary investigations and formulated a request for committal for trial.
