A week spent in Malta, in a “sublime” villa in an orgy worthy of the greatest feasts laid on by Emperor Caligula.

This is the “Malta experience” of a Moroccan prostitute, Hayat, as told to Abdelhak Najib of the La Gazette du Maroc last week.

In the backstreets, where women loiter on the balconies, where small hotels attract the passing trade and other solutions are available for males in search of pleasure, prostitution takes place in absolute discretion.

Today, the sex industry, the industry of pleasure, takes very modern forms, even hi-tech ones. We have today highly sophisticated resources where prostitutes resemble fashion models and the clientele belong to the jet set. What follows is a voyage through the heart of a world where sex rhymes with de luxe.

We are somewhere between the hillock of Anfa and Aïn Diab, a discreet quarter, bordered with trees, sufficiently far from the Corniche and the great avenues. Here, there is great peace, serenity, absolute calm where a fly dares not enter and disturb the absolute quiet.

When Hayat made her debut as a professional prostitute, she was just 19 years old. She turned her back on her studies and went to spend some time with her cousin in Switzerland. Her cousin had promised her that she would be given a list of addresses of very well known people. Today, Hayat is 25, drives an SUV, wears Kenzo because she likes the brand and it suits her personality.

She well remembers her sojourn in Geneva – where money and champagne flowed together with invitations, beautiful clothes and sunbathing on yachts in the Lake of Geneva.

“I did five trips in six months. I was invited everywhere; I travelled to France and Holland, stayed in the best hotels, was dressed by the best couturiers, had myself driven here and there, had everything.” She does not say how much money she made out of these five trips but looking at her smile and her radiant face, one would say it must have been quite something.

After her initiation by her cousin, Hayat took part in the travels she organised. Her cousin looked after her money and her future and chose her clients for her. “I trust her entirely. Everything I have today is due to her: she is not just a cousin but my best friend as well.”

Her first experience in Malta was a week spent, in a “sublime” villa where the cousin had organised an orgy worthy of the best bacchanals of Caligula’s reign. “Quite a number of young ladies took part. My cousin told me three Moroccans would come from Casablanca, there was also an Italian and two Lebanese. We gathered there two days before the arrival of my cousin’s guests who were to spend a whole week with us.”

The cousin is a real patron, a big boss who knows how to manage her business. She has a collection of addresses filled with celebrities’ names, as well as those of influential businessmen. She keeps the links, books the venue, informs clients about the trip, and proposes a country, a town and a date to them. When, after a time, she gets her replies, the cousin draws up an agenda based on the desires of the clients and prepares the voyage for the orgy.

“When the men came, they were eight. They knew each other through their business contacts and their custom of travelling together in groups around the world, to Thailand, Brazil or Cuba...” The most important aspect for the cousin is complete discretion as the clients refuse to meet just anybody.

The choice of girls thus corresponds to strict orders and requirements. Each knows with whom he is going to spend a whole week, who the girls will be, and more importantly, the nationality of each girl. In this rarefied environment, the client is everything and his desires are orders.

“One very important rule is that such outings never last longer than a week and that we never use the same building twice. We have been to Malta three times and three times to Cyprus but each time we stayed in a different area so as not to attract curious looks.

“You know how it is: people talk and this is not good for the clients who demand total discretion.”

Her salary is deposited in her Swiss bank account and she lets her cousin manage her money. For her week in Malta, Hayat was paid 100,000 Dirhams (Lm4,000) apart from gifts, outings and other small things one does not talk about.

“We do four outings a year and the rest I spend in Morocco to see my family, or I go to Paris for shopping or to relax a bit.” In Morocco she has already worked in four cities – Casablanca obviously, Marrakesh, Tangiers and Ifrane.

“This time the girls were all Moroccans, from here and from abroad. We were nine girls for 12 clients who were all friends and who often come to Morocco for the sun and the girls. My cousin had leased this superb mansion in Ifrane and the weather was extraordinary. She took charge of the food and drink, booked restaurants and made sure the tastes of each client was catered for.

“The wine was purchased in France as well as the best champagne. Everything was taken care of and the client, from the moment he arrived in Morocco, did not have a single thing to worry about.

“The cars are ready, the drivers are known and sometimes come from other countries so as not to be noted. The week goes according to the pre-established plan just like a tour in a foreign country.

“I sometimes get to see the same clients in different countries but this is very rare. My cousin says one ought to surprise the client, offer him novelties, girls he sees for the first time.”

Everything is taken care of: the girls are “educated” by the cousin how to take care of their health. “I see the doctor before and after every trip. I take Aids tests and tests for other sicknesses regularly. In this job physical health is very important.”

Hayat spends a fortune on medicines, creams, cosmetics, massages and sport. She has to follow a very regular diet and cannot allow herself to let go; above all she must not frequent people who are not “clean”. The clients trust the seriousness of the cousin and her ability to offer them the best in the market. She keeps medical dossiers on every one of her girls and is ready to show them to her clients at their request.

The chosen house must satisfy certain criteria: “It must be very spacious, have rooms which do not open on to other rooms, a very good decor, luxury furniture, and good taste in everything.

“The staff, from drivers to cooks to housekeepers, must all be top-notch. There are televisions in every room, as well as cassettes and CDs to set the atmosphere.”

Hayat says she is very happy to live this life, to have “dignified” work, to be respected and above all to ensure her future. She says she does not need a husband right now and does not consider what she does as prostitution but as a “life experience where I meet men who please me and with whom I have a good time. I know that in five, six years’ time I will stop but now I travel, I enjoy myself, I get all the benefits.”