THE retail fashion chain Zara is under investigation by Brazil's ministry of labour after a contractor in Sao Paulo was found to be using ''slave labour'' to make garments for the Spanish company.

The Brazilian government has a list of 52 charges against Inditex, Zara's parent company, after it ''rescued'' 15 workers from a factory subcontracted by AHA, the company responsible for 90 per cent of Zara's Brazilian production. Fourteen of the workers were Bolivians and one was from Peru. One was 14.

The Brazilian government has a list of 52 charges against Zara's parent company. Credit:Bloomberg

Inditex said in a statement that it could not be held responsible for ''unauthorised outsourcing'' but would compensate the workers because AHA had violated Inditex's code of conduct.

The response has not satisfied the Brazilian authorities. ''AHA is a logistical extension of its main client, Zara Brasil Ltd,'' said the prosecutor Giuliana Cassiano Orlandi. ''The company is responsible for its employees. Its raison d'etre is making clothes and it follows that it must know who is producing its garments.''