The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Oradea prosecutors have closed the file on how the Kinder eggs were put together, following an article published by the British tabloid ‘The Sun’ last fall.
Prosecutors conducted investigations on charges of trafficking in minors, but they closed the case as they found that the children were not exploited to put together Kinder eggs, tvr.ro informs.
The prosecutors believe that the so-called investigation of the British journalists was biased and does not respect the truth.
Last autumn the British journalists filmed a family in Carei (north-western Romania) which reportedly assembled Kinder eggs at home. The journalists argued that the children were exploited for 13 hours a day and underpaid. The prosecutors found that the parents are responsibly involved in raising their children and do not exploit them.
The DIICOT prosecutors announced in December they will file the case of the family in Carei, which allegedly put the children to assemble Kinder eggs after investigators determined that the minors were not exploited by their parents.
The children’s statements, the lack of absences from school and other evidence have led the prosecutors to conclude that in this case no criminal offense was committed, so the case will be filed in terms of the accusation of trafficking of minors.
In November, the local media informed that the woman received some GBP 200 to accept being filmed. The journalists quote a local man, close to the family, who claims to be told by the woman about her terms be part of the feature.
According to a feature released by the British newspaper ‘The Sun’ Romanian kids aged six get 22p an hour as “slave” labour making Kinder Egg toys.
Soon after the story was released, the mother in the feature, Timea Jurj, has claimed that everything is a frame-up. She denied the whole story.
Later on, the Romanian translator who accompanied the British journalists with ‘The Sun’ for the feature about kids working to make Kinder Eggs at home says there was not frame-up. He also says there are lots of people in the region who work on the black market for the mentioned plan.
On the other hand Ferrero has started its own investigation after the feature released by ‘The Sun’.