US Consulate: investigation widens; foreman also arrested

Another suspect, another attempted escape. The investigation into illegal labour practices at the US Consulate construction site in Milan is widening further. There is another name among those responsible, in addition to the company Caddell Construction and its legal representative. Aji Appukuttan, born in India, aged 52, was making arrangements to take a bus or another form of transport two days ago to escape. He was stopped by the Labour Protection Unit of the Milan Carabinieri. He was responsible for managing the staff. On the construction site, he is also alleged to have put pressure on the workers, ‘ordering them not to speak and not to report to the outside world what was happening on site’.

The man’s arrest, ordered by Public Prosecutor Paolo Storari, following that of Ulkas Demir last Sunday (the manager detained at Orio al Serio whilst boarding a flight to Istanbul), was deemed necessary because, as stated in the order, according to the testimonies gathered by the Carabinieri from the workers, ‘he wanted to flee Italy, but then realised that flying was dangerous. So he was making arrangements, knowing that the Indian workers had spoken to you about him.’

Here are some of the testimonies reported. ‘From what I’ve seen with my own eyes on so many occasions, he treats the Indian workers like slaves, just as you see in films about slavery. Whenever I saw those scenes where he was mistreating the workers, shouting at them and sending them away, I would ask a worker who spoke English what he had said; they would reply that he had threatened them, saying he would sack them and send them back to India.”

The 41-year-old Egyptian man was interviewed by investigators and described the abuse suffered by the “workers” and labourers at the massive $200 million construction site in Piazzale Accursio, Milan. He said he did not know the “names” of all the workers involved (with up to 500 people on site at any one time) but “everyone I spoke to told me they were afraid of him”.

Aji is said to have been in “contact with the Indian company that brings them to Italia, and from what they’ve told me, they pay money to come here” – around 500,000 rupees (5–6,000 euros) – to obtain a work permit. According to the reconstruction, part of that money is diverted and passed on to the ‘operational foreman’. The man in Italia ‘intimidates them’ and ‘whenever some of them have protested or there has been any problem between Caddell and the workers’, he has reportedly taken charge of resolving the issues. The witness provided investigators with further information on the system of exploitation behind the 40,000-square-metre urban regeneration project in Piazzale Accursio, which could lead to legal proceedings in the coming weeks.