Leader of Sainsbury's scam got illegal workers cleaner jobs

Momodou Chune, 55, played on his position as the leader in the West African community, making thousands of pounds from his crooked enterprise. 

Acquiring a portfolio of 19 rental properties, he used the homes to put up the workers he was employing illegally.

Victims described going to sleep on beds still warm from other bodies.

Jailing him for six years, Judge Michael Gledhill KC told Chune on Monday (August 7): “I have looked for any sign of remorse or contrition for what you did and the consequences to others over such a period of time. I have searched in vain."

He said Chune had used his knowledge of the immigration system to ‘deliberately and substantially undermine immigration control in this country for your own benefit’.

READ MORE: Case opened against Sainsbury's 'illegal immigration' scam

Three other co-defendants who, variously, allowed their accounts to be used to launder cash or fraudulently employed illegal workers, were given suspended prison sentences.

A fourth co-defendant, Ebrima Jabang, 50, who fled to Africa via Heathrow Airport on the eve of the jury’s verdicts, was given 23 months’ imprisonment in his absence for money laundering and fraudulently using his cousin’s passport to obtain work.

A worker hands over cash to Chune, having taken the money out from an ATM at a Sainsbury's store Picture: Home Office (Image: Home Office)

Rising to become a middle manager and respected ‘problem fixer’ for contractors ISS and Exclusive Contract Services (ECS), Chune used his position to employ those without the legal right to work as cleaners in Sainsbury’s stores in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

He took advantage of the administrative systems in place at both firms, approving fake identification documents to give illegal workers the green light to be employed.

His scam continued despite raids being made by the Home Office at Sainsbury's stores where Chune's illegally-employed cleaners were working.

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Chune housed some of those working for him in properties that he owned himself, with some reportedly describing going to sleep on beds still warm from others’ bodies.

One of the men Chune employed illegally said he was ‘powerless to stand up against’ him: “I was an undocumented worker and he knew it.”

The man added: “I am in this predicament because I was desperate to stand on my own two feet and support my fiancée and our newly born son.

“I wanted to see him grow and be happy and need to work to do this. I was vulnerable and Mohammed [Chune] has taken the opportunity to exploit my plight to make a financial gain for him.”

READ MORE: Arrest warrant out as money launderer flies to Gambia during trial

The workers employed illegally by Chune described the man as having control over what they were paid, threatened to reveal their illegal status in order to ensure their acquiescence and told them to leave the business when they were caught - rather than answer disciplinary questions.

Over a period of more than a decade, he laundered almost £126,000 by receiving income from 21 ECS workers aside from himself.

The cash was funnelled through nine bank accounts, including two opened in the name of one of his daughters.

He was also involved in laundering money with three of his co-defendants, Helen Tankoh, Sabbeh Jeng and Ebrima Jabang.

The total sum involved in the three charges exceeded £300,000 and extended over 14 years.

Chune outside Oxford Crown Court during the trial Picture: Oxford Mail (Image: Oxford Mail)

Chune helped provide false identity papers in order to facilitate his scam, as well as other forged documents like faked bank statements.

His control extended to the trial process itself.

Co-defendant Isac Nimo, 41, claimed that he had changed his defence during the trial, pointing the finger of blame at another manager in Exclusive Contract Services, after coming under pressure from Chune.

Chune, of Berry Close, Oxford, was convicted of assisting unlawful immigration to an EU member state and laundering money amounting to almost £437,000.

He denied wrongdoing, claiming to have been a scapegoat for his employers’ practices.

He was jailed for six years.

Isaac Nimo, of Mallards Way, Bicester, was convicted of fraud.

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He received a two year suspended prison sentence with 150 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Helen Tankoh, 53, of Leyside Court, Northampton, had lost her job as a registered nurse as a result of the criminal proceedings.

She was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence with 150 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Sabbeh Jeng, 48, of Berry Close, Oxford, received 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

Similarly, she was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and 12 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Ebrima Jabang, 50, of Berry Leys, Luton, fled to the Gambia on the eve of the jury’s verdicts - with the Home Office said to be making efforts to get him extradited to the UK.

He was jailed for 23 months.

Eight members of the jury who spent more than a month trying the case returned to watch the sentencing on Monday afternoon.