Crime leader who recruited illegal workers to clean at Sainsbury’s jailed
Summary
Date Reported: 8 Aug 2023
Location: United Kingdom
Companies
Exclusive Contract Services Limited - Employer , Sainsbury's - Other Value Chain EntityAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Africa , Cleaning & maintenance , Gender not reported )Issues
Forced Labour & Modern Slavery , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Wage Theft , Human Trafficking , Right to PrivacyResponse
Response sought: Yes, by The Resource Centre
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: ECS and Sainsbury's provided responses after the Resource Centre's outreach but did not address specific questions asked around remedy, due diligence and monitoring conditions for subcontracted workers. The area manager was jailed for six years.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 8 Aug 2023
Location: United Kingdom
Companies
ISS - Employer , Sainsbury's - Other Value Chain EntityAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Africa , Cleaning & maintenance , Gender not reported )Issues
Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Wage Theft , Human Trafficking , Forced Labour & Modern SlaveryResponse
Response sought: Yes, by The Resource Centre
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: ISS and Sainsbury's provided responses after the Resource Centre's outreach but did not address specific questions asked around remedy, due diligence and monitoring conditions for subcontracted workers. The area manager was jailed for six years.
Source type: News outlet
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Members of a criminal gang which recruited illegal migrants to work as cleaners across a string of Sainsbury’s supermarkets in Oxfordshire and the south-west have been sentenced...
[Momodou Chune] worked for 2 cleaning companies responsible for providing contracts for cleaners in 9 Sainsbury’s stores in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire..
It is estimated that over a decade of activity, the gang profited in the region of £600,000 from wages of illegal workers and ‘ghost’ workers. The majority of the illegal workers had more than one name and identity, as Chune created fake employees in order to obtain more money in false wages from his employers...
Investigators found that, from 2006 to 2016, Chune had abused his position as an area manager for 2 companies ISS Facility Services (ISS) and Exclusive Contract Services (ECS), to employ illegal migrants to work as cleaning staff at 9 Sainsbury’s stores in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.
Chune recruited each of the illegal workers knowing they had no right to work. Evidence showed he had control over what the workers were paid as he had their wages paid into his accounts and the accounts of those close to him.
He also controlled where some of the illegal workers lived by providing them with rooms across his multi-million-pound property portfolio. The court heard Chune would pay illegal workers in cash but would deduct rent from those he housed...