Former Whangārei Coin Saver owner Snehal Patel accused of blackmail and migrant exploitation

Behind the bright aisles of a bargain store, migrant workers say they were pushed into 100‑hour weeks, forced to sleep in storerooms and told they would be deported if they spoke up.

Now, Snehal Suresh Patel, the former owner of Whangārei chain stores Coin Saver and his company, Osh Enterprises, are on trial in the Whangārei District Court.

Fifteen charges of exploitation of migrant workers have been laid against the business, with Patel himself facing an additional count of blackmail.

Crown prosecutor Danette Cole gave opening submissions on behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to Judge Peter Davey in the judge-alone trial which started on Monday.

Cole said that, for seven years, Patel underpaid multiple workers by more than $1 million, kept them in poor living conditions and secretly filmed two employees then attempted to use the footage as blackmail if they spoke with MBIE.

The court heard none of the workers knew Patel before they came to work in his stores. They were in the country on student visas or working for other establishments and urgently requiring a work sponsor to stay.

"To remain in New Zealand, the complainants required a path to residency. Mr Patel offered them assistance with obtaining residency by offering them employment with Osh Enterprises," Cole said.

Two workers who accepted roles were told accommodation would be provided, however, there was no discussion around how many hours they would work.

"The court will also hear that the complainants did not have any family or close friends residing in New Zealand. This made it difficult for them to speak to anyone about their employment conditions," Cole said.

When they arrived at their assigned store, they were allegedly given a storeroom as their accommodation and slept on mattresses on the floor, had a small cooking stove on the bench and a small toilet and shower.

Eventually, another worker arrived from India and allegedly also had to share the back room with the two men.

The Crown said this man was not paid for his first three weeks and Patel told him he was not entitled to any pay as he was "in training".

One of the employees allegedly lived in the room for two years while the other was moved to another Coin Saver store.

All employees worked from 8am until 8pm, seven days a week. Then afterwards they allegedy helped buildtwo new stores until 2am without pay.

Cole told the court Patel allegedly said if they did not do the construction, he would cancel their visas.

When one of the new stores opened, Patel brought on another couple seeking work visas who were also allegedly advised accommodation would be provided.

When they arrived at the new store, they were shown the storeroom in the back which had no shower facilities. They allegedly had to purchase their own bedding and travel to the other store to shower.

No pay for 100 hour work weeks

Cole said most of the workers worked up to 100 hours a week but were only paid for either 40 or 60 hours a week with no overtime.

They all worked on public holidays, were not paid the normal rates of time and a half and no accurate timesheets were kept.

On one occasion, one of the employees was sick for a month and, when he left the company, allegedly had his sick leave deducted from his final pay.

Another employee was paid $2800 in holiday leave when he went on a trip to India. However, when he returned, Patel allegedly instructed him to pay the money back.

MBIE allege Osh Enterprises owes the workers a combined total of $994,465 in underpaid wages and a further $301,649 in holiday pay.

Eventually, a mutual friend became concerned at how many hours the employees were working and contacted the Labour Department.

Investigations began. However, the Crown said the employees were scared to talk as Patel had CCTV and audio set up around the store and was allegedly spying on their interactions.

Patel was made aware the department was conducting investigations and advised the staff at a dinner he organised that he was selling the business.

"During this meeting, Mr Patel advised the complainants that if the Labour Inspectorate phoned again, they were not to speak to them without him being present. He stated that he needed to be present to hear what his employees said.

The Crown says that by doing this, Mr Patel hindered his employees from disclosing the true nature of their employment conditions," Cole said.

Submit false hours

They were also allegedly told to submit false hours and make it look like they had been given time off.

The investigation continued for several years and, in that time, the employees left.

However, Patel allegedly believed that it was one former employee in particular who had called the Labour Department.

Patel allegedly threatened to release intimate videos he had filmed of the former employee with another person to the Indian community.

The interaction between Patel and the man was captured on CCTV and will be played to the court.

The former employee went to police and filed a complaint of blackmail and, when police executed a search warrant at Patel's house, they located a substantial amount of cash.

The Crown will call several witnesses including nearby shop owners who witnessed the number of hours the employees were working.

Defence lawyer Bill Nabney gave a brief opening statement, saying the workers were all paid what they were entitled to.

Nabney said Patel accepted there was a discussion about intimate recordings with the former employee but he never threatened to release them.

* This story originally appeared in the [https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/former-whangarei-coin-saver-owner-snehal-patel-accused-of-blackmail-and-migrant-exploitation/CCZF7F3JL5BCXOSNDH7VQVP3OA/ New Zealand Herald].