Prosecutors in Finland are demanding a minimum of five years’ imprisonment for the former head of a berry company and his Thai business partner for human trafficking in connection with abuse of Thai workers.
The trial on 77 counts of aggravated human trafficking began in the Lapland District Court on Monday, the Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported. Jukka Kristo, the former CEO of Polarica, and his Thai business partner, Kalyakorn Phongpit, have denied all charges.
Prosecutors say the pair subjected Thai berry pickers to forced labour and other degrading conditions in Finland in 2022, when a record number of 4,000 pickers arrived in the country to work.
The degrading conditions included substandard accommodation that sometimes lacked shower facilities. Meals often consisted of boiled chicken legs, salmon heads and raw liver.
Staff collected the pickers’ passports and return flight tickets upon their arrival in Finland. Pickers told investigators they were fearful of retribution if they complained about the conditions, YLE reported.
Contracts signed by the Thai pickers stipulated that they would be penalised for any shortfalls in berry volumes, according to the prosecution. Despite working for several months, many pickers still ended up owing money to the berry company.
In addition to jail time, the prosecution is seeking the forfeiture of nearly one million euros in criminal proceeds from the two defendants.
In a related case, a senior Finnish civil servant is scheduled to go on trial in Helsinki for accepting a bribe and breach of official duties.
Prosecutors allege that Olli Sorainen, a senior adviser at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, was aware of Thai pickers’ complaints as early as the beginning of 2020.
Finnish officials, however, did not intervene in the berry companies’ operations nor stop them from recruiting more pickers from Thailand.
Thai investigation ongoing
In Thailand, the Department of Special Investigation is still gathering evidence in a case in which it said several high-ranking officials and two former ministers would face charges. They are accused of demanding 36 million baht from a job broker in exchange for approving the sending of Thai workers to Finland.
The treatment of Thai workers in Finland led Thailand to stop pickers from travelling to the country pending the renegotiation of terms with Helsinki.
The two countries recently came to an agreement and on Aug 2 the Ministry of Labour announced that 900 Thai labourers would be sent to Finland this year for the berry harvesting season.
Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said he would visit Finland next month to follow up on how the workers are being treated.
“This bilateral cooperation aims to ensure that the benefits, welfare and security of the workers are protected and to encourage more workers to go work in the country in the future,” he said.