(Adds details of probe throughout, prosecutor's comment)
By Silvia Ognibene and Silvia Aloisi
FLORENCE, Italy, June 9 (Reuters) - Italian police have
arrested a Chinese couple accused of running a leather goods
business which exploited immigrant workers it employed to make
handbags for a Burberry supplier, according to an
arrest warrant seen by Reuters.
Tax police in Florence said in a statement that the two
Chinese nationals were arrested on Wednesday as part of an
investigation into alleged labour exploitation and tax fraud and
that restrictive measures had been imposed on two other family
members, including a ban on them leaving Italy.
British luxury group Burberry, which is not accused of any
wrongdoing, had no immediate comment on the case.
The police statement, which did not name the companies
involved, said the four had exploited immigrant workers from
countries including China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, making them
work up to 14 hours a day for just over 3 euros an hour, and
that police had seized 523,000 euros ($609,350).
The arrest warrant, seen by Reuters and which details the
allegations against the four, said they effectively ran a
leather goods company based on the outskirts of Florence called
Samipell Srl which worked as a subcontractor to Tivoli Group
Spa, a Burberry supplier. Samipell's owners exploited at least
40 immigrant workers, taking advantage of "their state of need"
to make Burberry handbags for Tivoli, the warrant said.
Tivoli, which is not under investigation, did not reply to
phone calls and an email seeking comment. Reuters was unable to
contact the Chinese nationals under investigation and a lawyer
representing them was not immediately available for comment.
Samipell was set up in 2014 and was declared bankrupt by a
Florence court in March 2021, according to the warrant.
Florence chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo told a news
conference that the arrests were the latest in a crackdown
against labour exploitation and irregular work contracts in the
area, which is dotted with hundreds of textile and leather goods
artisan workshops.
Italy accounts for around 40% of manufacturing for the
global fashion and luxury industry.
Creazzo said the Chinese people under investigation were
subcontractors for a luxury fashion brand but declined to name
it.
"We have no evidence that the fashion house was directly
involved in this scheme, so don't ask me for names," he said.
The arrest warrant includes a transcript of a wiretapped
phone conversation in which one of the Chinese people under
investigation is quoted as telling a Tivoli employee that, if
needed, he will make workers toil through the night to dye small
"Title" bags, a type of Burberry handbag which sells for around
1,500 euros ($1,830).
The warrant said the Chinese couple had opened and closed a
series of leather goods companies since 2013 to evade taxes and
the authorities, transferring workers and machinery from one
business to the other but keeping the same address.
Police in the nearby town of Prato, home to one of Europe's
biggest Chinese communities, last month placed two Chinese
nationals under house arrest for allegedly exploiting Chinese
and African workers to make luxury handbags for Chloe. Chloe
owner Richemont did not reply to an email seeking
comment on the case.
($1 = 0.82 euros)
(Reporting by Silvia Ognibene, writing by Silvia Aloisi,
Editing by Angus MacSwan and Nick Tattersall)
Burberry (BRBY)