EXTORTION OR MISUNDERSTANDING?
Nehwin Wanhar, left, Aji Suroto, centre, and Dudy Supriyadi leave Ontario Court of Justice on Friday. The three Essex County men, including Aji Suroto (not shown), are accused of extorting money from temporary foreign workers in Leamington.
Three Essex County men have been charged with extorting money from temporary foreign workers from Indonesia who say they were forced to pay unexpected accommodation and transportation fees once arriving in Canada.
Several employees at Via Verde Hydroponics Ltd. in Leamington say they borrowed money ranging from $6,500 to $9,000 to pay for the cost of obtaining temporary work visas and for travel costs to Canada.
Two other men, who also work at the greenhouses, are accused of collecting the money from the workers every payday. It’s alleged they would drive the workers from work to the bank and collected the cash immediately. The workers claim they regularly faced threats of being fired, which would then result in them being sent home, if they did not pay up.
Essex County OPP led the investigation that began in June when the issue was reported to them from Legal Assistance of Windsor, the group that has extensive experience working with human trafficking and labour exploitation.
Lawyers representing the three men during their first appearance in provincial court reject all charges, saying the whole situation is a matter of confusion.
“I think at the end of the day everyone’s going to find out this was really a case that’s much ado about nothing,” said defence lawyer Frank Miller, who represented Dudy Supriyadi, 39, and Aji Suroto, 33, the two men accused of collecting the money from workers. “Through a series of misunderstandings and errors people have come to the wrong conclusion about what’s taken place among these people and actually nothing untoward has happened.”
Nehwin Wanhar, 29, is accused of charging the fees for accommodation and transportation after helping the workers gain access to employment in Canada and connecting them with the loans they’ve struggled to pay back. The Crown reported the workers paid extra fees ranging from $1,400 to $11,550, depending on the amount of time they worked.
But defence lawyers contend the workers knew exactly how much money they borrowed to gain access to the country and they knew exactly what they had to pay for once they got here, according to Wanhar’s lawyer Anthony Barile, who spoke to news media outside the courthouse.
“A lawyer prepared the contracts in Indonesia, it was in their native language ... and they willingly and freely signed those contracts, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “They’re contractually bound to pay it. It covers airfare, it covers the application for their work permit and accommodation costs and they were fully aware of it.”
Staff from Legal Assistance of Windsor said they could not comment about the case now that it’s before the courts.
Miller is adamant the three men did not threaten the workers in anyway.
“Our people could not make those threats, did not make those threats, would not make those threats,” he said. “If people were going to lose their jobs through their own conduct, then they would probably have their visas revoked simply because the visa’s dependent of the existence of employment. But our clients were by no means threatening to send these people home.”
Justice of the Peace Susan Whelan released the men from provincial court on Friday with a list of conditions. Wanhar, who lives in Kingsville, is not to contact the workers who made the claims against him, nor is he to contact Supriyadi and Aji.
All three men can still return to work at Via Verde, but they are not to discuss the charges, nor are they to talk to the workers making accusations against them. Supriyadi and Aji, who received their orders through an Indonesian interpreter, avoided no-contact orders with each other because they live together in Leamington.
The Star tried to contact the Via Verde greenhouse, but the person who answered the main phone line said they did not speak English and did not understand the questions. Miller was adamant the owner has nothing to do with recruiting workers or their contracts.
“The greenhouse operator’s not part of it. All he cares about is having a person show up at his door and work,” Miller said. “How that person got here or who (that person) paid to get here is not part of the business of the greenhouse operator.”