As a result of a police raid in March of last year, several illegal immigrants working for Solomka were detained. They came to Britain to earn money and, in effect, found themselves in slavery to the Ukrainian businessman.
Viktor Solomka himself came to Britain in 2000 and applied for political asylum. At the time he was so poor that he had to tie the soles of his boots with an elastic bandage. However, three years later he had acquired a decent house in Norfolk and several expensive cars. The source of his wealth was Solomka's business — he "supplied" workers to Scottish fish factories.
Most of the people hired by Solomka worked illegally. Investigator Paul Cunningham compares him to slave traders. "Solomka built his fortune on the misfortune of those who worked for him," he said and explained: "The factories paid him the workers' wages, and he deducted taxes and national insurance contributions from that amount and pocketed them."
A representative of one of the Aberdeen fish companies, Ian McFadden, says he had no complaints about Solomka and sincerely believed that the workers he hired through Solomka had the right to work in Britain. "At first Solomka spoke English poorly, but later he picked up the language. He seemed like a perfectly decent man. We needed extra hands, and he supplied us with workers. I had no reason to complain about him," says the former employer.
Those whom Solomka exploited have a completely different impression of the man. Some of them had to live 11 to a room. "A greedy man, avaricious," one worker says of Viktor Solomka. "He throws people out onto the street and resorts to assault. He is a man who takes your documents and then sets the Home Office (Interior Ministry) on you." In his words, the end of this story is the same for everyone: "The Home Office takes you away. You have no documents, no belongings, no money. And that's it – home."
The illegal workers who worked for Solomka have now been sent back to their home countries. However, the problem of illegal labor remains. As BBC commentator Stephen Eke said, no one knows how many illegal immigrants arrive each year and how many are in the country. In his words, illegal workers from Eastern Europe occupy a special place: "As for people from former Soviet republics, since the community already numbers more than 100,000 people, there are ways of mutual support within the community."
The authorities promise that the situation with illegal workers should change. In December of last year, the government announced plans to create a special agency that will combat suppliers of illegal labor. As for Viktor Solomka, he will learn his fate shortly when his sentence is passed.
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