Latina, Singh's employer under investigation for 5 years for caporalato

Renzo Lovato, father of Antonello Lovato, who abandoned the Indian farm labourer Satnam Singh in front of his house after losing his right arm in a work accident on his farm, has been under investigation for five years for caporalato offences. The news was given by TgLa7.

The man, who after the accident had accused Satnam Singh of having 'committed a lightness that hurt everyone', is suspected by the Latina Public Prosecutor's Office of having subjected 'the workers, at least six, to exploitative conditions and taking advantage of their state of need' by paying them less than the remuneration established by the national contract. He also allegedly violated 'regulations on working hours, safety and hygiene in the workplace' and subjected the workers 'to degrading working conditions and accommodation'. The alleged facts relate to a time span from November 2019 to May 2020. Two other people in charge of an agricultural cooperative are under investigation with Lovato.

"What the owner of Satnam's farm did is not right. In Italy, hospitals are always open, for everyone. If he had been taken there immediately, he would be here with us today. Instead, today his mother and brothers, to whom he sent money from here, are crying in India. Yet it had happened to so many others before him. This time, however, seeing how he was treated by his employer, the Italian government raised its voice'. This is the testimony of Singh Amarjit, a worker in a gas cylinder company in the province of Latina. Singh Amarjit is one of the many Indian nationals from the Pontine area, but also from the rest of the country, who yesterday participated in the manifestation organised by the CGIL in Piazza della Libertà for Satnam Singh, known as Navi, the 31-year-old Indian labourer who died after being abandoned in front of his house by the owner of the farm in which he had lost his right arm in a work-related accident shortly before, amputated by a plastic-wrapping machine and left in a vegetable box with the 31-year-old in front of his house, instead of alerting the emergency services.

'Satnam was one of the many illegal immigrants who arrived in Italy on foot or by boat without papers,' he adds. 'Many of them are undocumented, but if they are legal they work better, as they should. This has been going on for years and years. Those with documents get 6 euros, those without 3 or 4 at most. I always tell them that if they are treated badly they must go immediately to the police or carabinieri to report everything. They work 12 or 13 hours a day under the sun: they live 20 years behind. They deserve their rights to be respected'. "I work from 5 am until the evening, 12 or 13 hours a day," echoes Kumar, who in Italy goes by the name Dario: "I earn EUR 4.30, 3.60 or 5.50 an hour: it's really very little. It is not enough to pay for the house, taxes and send the other money we save to our family members living in India,' complains the Indian labourer. 'I have been here for three years without papers. In Latina there are 7,000 regulars and 12,000 regulars, plus other undocumented workers who are not counted,' says Jagdeep Singh instead, who does not speak Italian, but his words are translated by Kumar: 'I get paid 4 euro an hour, although I don't always get it. It's not fair: if you work you have to be paid'.