Two directors of the Chinese state-owned clothing manufacturer Leisure Clothing were denied bail this afternoon after being formally accused of human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation.

Allegations that the company, which is based at the Bulebel Industrial Estate, was exploiting Asian workers had surfaced late last month, leading to the arrest of the company's managing director Han Bin and its marketing director Jia Liu.

Both Mr Han, a 46-year-old who lives in San Ġwann and who is a naturalised Maltese citizen, and Mr Liu, a 31-year-old who lives in China House in Ħal Far along with many of the company's workers, faced a total of nine charges in their own name and as representatives of Leisure Clothing Ltd.

The charges include the trafficking of nine Vietnamese persons and misappropriating more than €5,000 from them, failing to comply with employment regulations and failing to answer or falsely answering to questions made by Employment and Training Corporation inspectors.

Earlier this month, three of the nine employees concerned had instituted cases against Mr Han, Mr Liu and a fellow company director in which they claimed that they were owned some €50,000 in unpaid wages and overtime. Their alleged failure to pay each of these workers their due have now been included in the list of charges against the two men.

The two men pleaded not guilty, and on their behalf, lawyer Pio Valletta requested bail.

But Insp. Joseph Busuttil, who prosecuted together with Insp. Sylvana Briffa, objected to the request, stating that the nature of the alleged crimes was very serious and could lead to a trial by jury.

He added that when the police carried out their initial searches, they had found that Mr Han had packed his luggage, and that while he denied that he was going to leave the country, investigations showed that he had flight tickets to China via Rome.

Insp. Busuttil also claimed that there was a risk that the evidence would be tampered with, and pointed out that there were vulnerable witnesses who would be called to testify.

Dr Valletta, on his part, pointed out that both men have been granted police bail in the run-up to their arraignment, and that both have collaborated with the police so far. He also pointed out that as the managing director of an international company, Mr Han had to travel frequently.

He said that the police could easily have arraigned the two men at the outset even though their investigations were not concluded, and the fact that they did not showed that they were satisfied that his clients were not a flight risk.

In the end, however, Magistrate Natasha Sciberras denied bail, citing the reasons provided by the prosecution.

The magistrate also agreed to the prosecution's request to freeze the two defendants' assets.