The Managing Director of Leisure Clothing, Han Bin, told an officer from the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations that the company was holding on to the salaries and passports of foreign workers to keep them from running away, a court heard today.

DIER official Antoine Grech was giving evidence in the case against Mr Bin, 46, from San Gwann and Jia Liu, 31, from Birzebbuga, who are charged with human trafficking, misappropriation of employees' wages and failing to comply with employment conditions. They are denying all charges.

Mr Grech said he had been informed that three Vietnamese employees of Leisure Clothing had tried to escape to Sicily using forged documents. During the course of the interrogation they had claimed that they were owed thousands in unpaid wages and overtime. It was also discovered that working conditions at the factory were in breach of Maltese law. The Vietnamese nationals said they were paid €600 for a period covering November 2013 to July 2014. They were not given a copy of their contracts and the company was keeping their money for "safekeeping." The company provided food and accommodation but the amount was deducted from their salaries.

Mr Grech said he had met Han Bin and the company's PR manager. The Managing Director told him that he was holding on to the passports and salaries to keep the employees from escaping. He claimed that the employees could fill in a form to withdraw some money but never provided the necessary documentation. He was also contesting the amount of overtime claimed by the former Vietnamese employees and said they did not work so many hours, but failed to provide their time sheets.

During cross examination by lawyer Edward Gatt, Mr Grech said he had never spoken to them about freedom of movement and had not visited their accommodation because that was not his remit.

GWU collective agreement 'excluded foreigners'

The witness said he has spoken to the shop steward at the company, who said the Maltese workers did not have any problems. He said, however, that a collective agreement negotiated by the General Workers Union did not cover the foreign workers, prompting remarks by Magistrate Carol Peralta about the distinction between the Maltese employees and the foreigners working at the company, who had no one to protect them.

Mr Grech said the foreigners were not covered by the agreement but Maltese law gave them the right for a minimum wage.

Earlier, Inspector Darren Buhagiar from the Immigration Department said he had spoken to the three Vietnamese after they tried to escape. They had work visas and Han Bin was listed as their host. During the initial interrogation, one of the women wrote on a piece of paper: "I dont want see boss. China boss not good. Please help me. Please no call factory."

The Inspector said they had forged documents because their passports were being held by the company. They did not ask for their passports because they did not want to show their employer that they were leaving. They were scared and were being exploited. The workers were being forced to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.

Their Visas were issued in Beijing but he had not gone into who had handled and processed the applications. Replying to questions by Dr Edward Gatt, the witness said the Vietnamese never said they were going back to Vietnam when they were caught trying to escape. "Did it result at any time that they actually intended to go to Germany, instead of back home," the lawyer asked. The witness said they intended to travel to Italy and then decide what to do next.

Problems evident in 2007

DIER official Romina Veneziani said the three Vietnamese had claimed they were owed money by the company. They were being given between €150 and €200 a month and the company was keeping the rest.

Magistrate Peralta asked the witness if it was normal procedure for companies to hold on to the salaries of foreign workers. She replied that she had never seen this happen before. Ms Veneziani said she found out from research that in 2007, following talks with the department, Leisure Clothing had agreed to start opening accounts for its employees but she could not say if money was deposited in them.

Defence Lawyer Edward Gatt noted that the problem had been evident in 2007 but no one had been arraigned. It was only now that action was being taken. The witness said DIER referred the case to the police because of the possibility of other breaches of the law.

DIER lawyer Elisabeth Borg took the witness stand next. She said she had asked the Police Commissioner to look into the case because of the possibility of human trafficking The suspicion came about because of the fact that the company was holding on to the employees' wages and passports. But during cross examination Dr Borg said she had never spoken directly to Han Bin.

Dr Gatt then asked her if she knew what the elements that constituted human trafficking were, to which she replied that she did not know. This prompted an outburst by the defence lawyer, who asked how she could have implied the possibility of human trafficking to the police when she did not know the legal definition of it. Dr Borg said she had never implied anything but had simply asked the police to look into the possibility.

She also denied that she had mentioned human trafficking to buy more time for the DIER investigation into employment conditions, for fear that the Vietnamese would be deported before they could testify.

Magistrate concerned on human trafficking charge

After hearing all witnesses for the day, Magistrate Peralta said he was concerned with the human trafficking charge and whether there was enough evidence to prove the charge sufficiently for indictment. "It seems to me that Han Bin never denied that the passports and money in the safe deposit box belonged to the employees and there is no indication that they would not have been paid upon expiry of their contract." On the other hand, he said, he was also concerned with the fact that that Mr Bin allegedly held on to the passports and pay to keep them from escaping.

Prosecuting Inspectors Sylvana Briffa and Joseph Busuttil insisted with the Magistrate, however, that they have more witnesses to summon and said the element of human trafficking will become apparent.

On his own part, Dr Edward Gatt said the crime of human trafficking "absolutely does not exist" and the charge of misappropriation has also not been proved.

The Magistrate allowed the prosecution to present more witnesses tomorrow, by which time it has to prove the charges prima facie. The court will then decide if there are grounds for indictment.

Inspectors Sylvana Briffa and Joseph Busuttil are prosecuting. Lawyers Edward Gatt and Pio Valletta are appearing for the accused. Lawyers Philip Sciberras, Michael and Katrine Camilleri and Karl Briffa appeared for the workers.