A number of agency workers were found to have been exploited by a Romanian gangmaster known as The Minister in 2014 in Northern Ireland, reports The Irish News.

Fraudster Ioan Lacatus, who was known as The Minister, pleaded guilty at Craigavon Crown Court to conspiracy to traffic, five counts of trafficking people into the UK for exploitation, acting as an unlicensed gangmaster, and converting criminal property.

Lacatus used recruitment agencies and paid workers less than the minimum wage. The workers said they were promised the minimum wage of £6.31 for over 18’s but the prosecution counsel said that in fact the workers were working 12 hours a day at places such as bakeries and even up to 18 days in a row while the wages went to Lacatus and his wife and brother.

Brian McMonagle, managing director at deli Finnebrogue, one of the places where the migrants worked in, stated that the necessary controls for monitoring agency workers were not in place in 2014 when the incident took place, but has stated that steps have since been taken to fix the problems. These steps include changing agency contracts so that all workers' hours are monitored and all wages are paid into individual accounts. A monthly forum for staff has also been introduced as well as regular welfare checks on foreign staff.

"Our contract's robust, our controls on site are now robust and we've done everything we can to protect people within the agency environment, but until they come and work for us we can't 100% guarantee that," McMonagle said. "We are as committed to recruiting our own people as much as possible and only using agency in short term bursts and even at that we try to do short-term contracts locally to minimise that."

A spokesman from Irwin's Bakery, another one of the three companies that the migrants worked in, said the company fully complied with all employment legislation and regulations. “The recruitment agency was responsible for employee terms and conditions and wages," the spokesman said.

Moreover, a spokesman for MacNeice Fruit also said it complies with employment legislation and recruitment agencies were responsible for "providing us with an end-to-end service from recruiting the workers, and arranging their terms and conditions, to paying their wages".

"Since the establishment of the Gangmasters licensing authority we have expressed concerns that it does not have authority in the catering and food industries where high levels of trafficking and exploitation have long been suspected," the spokesman for MacNeice Fruit said. "It would be concerning if businesses do not have systems in place to ensure the legitimacy of those who are providing workers as well as systems to monitor abnormal or excessive working hours and patterns. We welcome the legal action taken in this case but remain concerned that further action may not be taken to ensure this cannot happen again."

Lacatus is set to be sentenced this week.