waerth Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 The big question ... how many more Farangs are held captive? A Ukrainian engineer who says he was held captive and forced to work at a Bangkok factory for 14 years will meet Department of Special Investigation officers tomorrow to detail his allegations. Anatoliy Vdovychenko, 57, was rescued from the Thai-owned oxygen equipment factory located at the Rangsit industrial complex on Jan 11 after Ukrainian consular staff confronted the owner and threatened to call police. Ukrainian consul Constantine Ivaschenko said they became involved in the case after a Burmese worker who had left the factory sent a letter to the engineer's family in Ukraine last November telling them of the engineer's fate. The letter also included three telephone contact numbers. Family members contacted Interpol and local police who then contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior Affairs which informed the embassy in Bangkok. Consular staff phoned the numbers provided in the letter and found the Burmese man who told them where the factory was located. ''I thought I would be there forever,'' said Mr Vdovychenko, who is slender in appearance and seems emotionally unsettled by his ordeal. ''I thought I would die and nobody would know. My mind was closed and I was depressed. ''I stayed for many years in a small dirty room without pay. I worked hard for nothing, They didn't pay my salary and they forced me to work. ''They took my documents and I had to do everything free of charge. The owner didn't need a welder, painter, electrician or plumber. I had to do everything.'' His daughter Natalia, 34, who works for a corporate law firm in Odessa, said in a telephone interview they had been searching for their father for 15 years but the task was difficult. ''At first we had no chance to do anything as we knew he was in Thailand, but at the time there was no Ukrainian embassy there.'' She said it was a ''strange feeling'' talking to her father after 15 years. ''Of course we are waiting for him to come back, but it's a long time and things have changed. We are already adults now and everything has changed.'' Mr Ivaschenko said Mr Vdovychenko had been isolated for so long that the first time he met the engineer he had almost forgotten his mother tongue. Mr Vdovychenko, who is in the care of the Ukrainian embassy, has been granted special permission by the Immigration Department to stay in Thailand until the end of next month. His passport expired in 2006. In an affidavit submitted at Klong Luan police station, Mr Vdovychenko says he arrived in April 1996 as a specialist in oxygen equipment installation for Combitex Corporation Ltd which was the agent for a Ukrainian supplier, Kisenmash. After suffering burns in an accident in July 1996 and being unable to return home, he was verbally offered a work agreement by a Thai factory owner which included a 30,000 baht monthly salary, plus a car and other expenses, including medical expenses. Mr Vdovychenko said that without his consent, the owner planned to build a new oxygen factory and he would have to maintain two oxygen systems. He said he only received a full salary for the first three months. By the end of 1998 he made a demand on his employer for 600,000 baht in outstanding pay. After that, the owner stopped paying him and confiscated his passport when Mr Vdovychenko returned from a trip to Malaysia in 1998. Over the next 12 years, he says he was only paid from ''time to time'', sometimes receiving 1,000 baht a week to buy food and nothing more. ''During a long period I did not have my passport and I did not have money to even buy food,'' he says in the affidavit. Mr Vdovychenko told the Bangkok Post Sunday that he was under 24-hour guard and only allowed to leave the premises to buy food from a stall near the factory. He said on occasions the owner threatened to kill him and sometimes fired a handgun in the air to intimidate him. He said he was too afraid to attempt an escape as the guard would act on the owner's orders as he was considered crucial to the running of the factory. ''I was alone, I had no friends and no passport. If I left, who would believe me?'' he said. Mr Ivaschenko said that while Mr Vdovychenko was not ''chained like a dog'', ''he's not Rambo, he's not Superman, he's a specialist engineer''. Mr Vdovychenko said he survived with the help of Burmese migrant workers at the factory who brought him food and clothing. He had no television or radio, and the one Russian-language book he had was torn up by the factory owner. However, other workers were also recruited to keep him under surveillance. Paisith Sungkahapong, who heads the DSI's Foreign Affairs Division, said he would meet Mr Vdovychenko tomorrow to determine whether or not to proceed with a criminal case against the factory owner. ''I've never heard of a case like this. Fourteen years is a very long time,'' said Pol Lt Col Paisith. Mr Vdovychenko says he remains fearful of the factory owner but wants to be paid the money owing to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 It took him 14 years to figure out a plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Amazing story and I gotta admit my first thoughts were why he couldn't get word out or escape. He's a trained engineer so has more book smarts than I do certainly and a lot of us on this forum. However, we were not in his situation, he had a 24 hour guard as well. 14 years is a helluva long time. In any event I wonder what will happen to the factory owner. If he gets a slap on the wrist I'll be pissed. Its enslavement. There are international laws about that sort of thing. As shocking as it may be, it may be a tough case for a prosecutor. Witnesses and other proof may be a little tough. A smart defense lawyer could claim he ran away from his family and hid out there working off the books, etc. Stranger things (and defense alabis) have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Bangkok Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous God Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 <> Err - shouldn't the bloke be in fucking JAIL???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 ... depends on the bribe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Police query Ukrainian's story Claims by a Ukrainian engineer to having been held captive by a gas factory for 14 years have been rejected by police investigators. Department of Special Investigation officers have also raised doubts about the man's story after they questioned him on Monday. Investigators at Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district station have nevertheless gone ahead and charged the factory owner with hiring a foreign worker illegally and violating the labour law by not paying him wages. Khlong Luang police chief Permkiart Suriyawong said yesterday investigators would try to find a Burmese man who was involved in notifying the engineer's family of his plight. They have already questioned Anatoliy Vdovychenko, who was taken recently from Navanakhon Gas (2500) Co factory in Pathum Thani by Ukrainian consular staff, some witnesses and a factory representative. Pol Col Permkiart said police wanted to clarify certain facts surrounding the incident. A factory representative admitted Navanakhon Gas hired Mr Vdovychenko and agreed to pay him 30,000 baht a month. But Pol Col Permkiart said the factory admitted it had not paid him in full. Mr Vdovychenko, 57, was taken from the oxygen factory on Jan 11 after Ukrainian consular staff confronted the owner and threatened to call police. They were notified after a Burmese worker who had left the factory sent a letter to the engineer's family in the Ukraine in November telling them of his fate. Mr Vdovychenko lodged a complaint with Khlong Luang police and the DSI, demanding legal action be taken against the factory, which he claims held him captive and forced him to work for free for 14 years. He also demanded the company pay him the wages due to him. [color:red]Pol Col Permkiart said police found there were no grounds to the allegation that the factory had held the Ukrainian unlawfully even though it had seized his passport. They found the engineer lived in a dormitory in the factory compound and was free to go anywhere he liked. He might have been afraid of being caught if he went out after his passport was confiscated.[/color] "Factories in the Navanakhon industrial area, including Navanakhon Gas (2500), are not hellish," Pol Col Permkiart said. "The factory has a permanent address and there are other employees working there. If the engineer had been unlawfully detained as he claimed, he could have escaped, not stayed there for 14 years." "In this case, he had not been paid full wages. The factory owner paid him only 1,000 to 2,000 baht a week." [color:red]The officer said the factory had been charged with hiring an alien worker without permission and failing to pay wages under the Labour Act. Police would also investigate whether the factory had an operating permit.[/color] Bangkok Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Hi, Yep, looks like they'll get off with a slap on the wrist. Can't say I'm surprised. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizardKing Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Dunno, the Ukrainian guys claims sound pretty dodgy to me. The truth is somewhere, but not either of what was reported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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