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Jurnalul.ro Vechiul site Old site English Version Online confession

Online confession

de Petru Zoltan    |    28 Ian 2008   •   00:00

The British have started to have enough of the Romanians, after the Italians and the Germans already did that. The workers that decided to work illegally in England did all kinds of tricks in order to get well paid jobs.

The British have started to have enough of the Romanians, after the Italians and the Germans already did that. The workers that decided to work illegally in England did all kinds of tricks in order to get well paid jobs. Some were caught by the policemen, because the travel documents weren’t forged so well. In exchange, it was the first time when the Romanians testified in a trial from Romania in front of a Judge in England with the help of a video-link system.

 

The cheap workforce is wanted in the EU states. Since Romania is one of the states that export cheap workers, a lot of organized crime groups were formed and they take advantage of the naivety of the Romanians that want to work abroad. One of the favorite destinations of the Romanian workers is Great Britain. The firms that offer false work-permits for Great Britain developed rapidly and the Romanian workers started paying huge commissions to get in the desired country. Fascinated by great salaries and by the value of the pound, the Romanians didn’t even think about it. They paid. The forms were supposed to take care of the papers and they used to give them passports, work agreements or work permits. They were all fake. They didn’t care if they got caught. They also didn’t care about the fact that they had to hide in trains or trucks while having forged documents on them. The only thing that mattered for them was to get in the “paradise” of well-paid jobs. There were also some naïve girls that got fooled by the criminal groups. When they got to the destination, the girls got beaten, raped and forced to become prostitutes. Since money don’t care about nationalities, the autochthonous dealers managed to start several international organized crime groups.

 

ONLINE CONFESSION

After an information exchange between the Romanian and British authorities, the head of a network of immigrants was arrested. The group was led by Cornel Tirnaveanu, who was a British citizen as well. With the help of his wife, Victoria Tirnaveanu, he gave false passports and nationalization papers. More than 40 Romanian citizens have benefited from the “services” offered by the Tirnaveanu family. The witnesses testified online with the help of the video-link system. Therefore, this was the first time when this system was used in Romania. The Prosecutor of the Kent shire convicted Cornel to 7 years in prison, while his wife will stay behind bars for only one year.

 

FAMILY “BUSINESS”

At the beginning of 2003, the prices of the fake documents were quite high, because the Romanians could hardly visit the west European countries without the visas. The quality of the forging is what modifies the price today. “The ones that paid 100 euros are already back in the country. So, they got caught. One hundred doesn’t take you anywhere. They got directly to Romania. The prices vary from person to person, depending on the despair of that person. From our point of view, the head of such a network could also be the one that brings the passports. The investigation may lead us to other persons involved. Chris Christodoulides and his wife Angela Cardei Christodoulides are a special case. They took advantage of this opportunity to the max.  They started their own business and initiated “Chrislaw & Associates” in Radauti. The Romanian-British couple used to facilitate the obtaining of the work-permits for Great Britain with the help of the firm. They forged the work documents of the Romanians and said the respective people owned houses in Romania. The group had hired IT experts that used high-end hardware and software to get things done. They sent approximately 150 Romanians to Great Britain”, investigators told us. The British authorities convicted Chris to nine years in jail.

 

TRADING WOMEN

Money is evil. When it comes to “business”, the dealers work together to prosper. They don’t care about nationality. This is why Ioan Bordeianu associated with Placiki Luan, Albanese citizen. Under the false pretext of offering a job in Great Britain, the dealers have traded several Romanian girls in England. For the girls to get to the destination without any problem, the victims were accompanied by the subordinates of the two on the route: Romania-Austria-Germany-Sweden-Norway via Great Britain. Luan was convicted to 23 years in jail and Bordeianu got only 15 years.

 

Forged documents

Before the 1st of January 2007, the Romanians got out of Romania legally. When they got to countries like Italy, Spain or France they faced a new challenge: Great Britain. “They got to Great Britain hidden in the transportation means, mainly trucks. The fake passport that they used there didn’t get to us because they represent proofs in those files. In my opinion, one could hardly falsify them. It looks like the fake passports weren’t so well done since they got caught. They used to forge documents from the countries where one didn’t need a visa to get in Great Britain”, an officer in the Reflex group told us.

 

Romanian-English cooperation

In 2002, the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police started the Reflex Romania project as a common inter-institutional group between Romania and Great Britain. The purpose of the project was to improve the exchange of data and information to fight against illegal migration and the trade of human beings. 18 groups have been identified since 2005 and 120 people have been investigated. Two Romanian expert officers have been sent to London for six months. The Reflex Project extended in the country reaching to 14 departments in the Brigades for the Fight against Organized Crime.

 

Translated by Sorin Bălan 

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