Joint controls by customs, police, tax investigators and the city

 

38 catering establishments in the region and the 111 people who work there were checked yesterday by 73 employees of the Financial Control for Undeclared Work (FKS) of the Cologne Main Customs Office. The checks ran from midday until the evening hours and were part of a nationwide focus check. Police, tax investigators, public order and immigration authorities were also involved

 

An initial balance of the controls:

In Cologne, five catering establishments were inspected and eleven people were questioned about their employment.

"We found three illegally employed Vietnamese nationals in the kitchen of a restaurant. Investigations were initiated against them and their employer on site. Behind the term illegal employment is the brutal exploitation of people for starvation wages. We primarily want those who profit from such machinations accountable," said Jens Ahland, press spokesman for the main customs office in Cologne.

“The responsible immigration authorities will now decide on further immigration measures after some of the illegally employed people had to be processed for identification purposes because they did not want to provide any information about their identities. The further investigations by our financial control for illegal employment are now focusing on the employer,” continued Ahland .

In a catering establishment, the hourly records required by the Minimum Wage Act are not kept.

In the case of two people, there are initial indications that they are not registered for social security by their employer and are therefore colloquially employed as black workers.

The evaluations by the financial control of undeclared employment are ongoing.