Employees with Maltese Falcon Recruitment Services, run by family members who run Mr Clean, said they were ordered to shred contracts signed in the Philippines by employees brought over to Malta, the court heard today.
The case involving the directors of Mr Clean – a father and his three children – on trial in relation to trafficking charges continued in court today.
The case, which is reminiscent of the ongoing Leisure Clothing saga, revolves around Filipino workers who signed contracts before leaving their country but were given different conditions on arrival.
The accused are Joseph Degiorgio, 71, from Balzan, Paul Degorgio, 47, from Lija, Christopher Degorgio, 42, from Naxxar and Josianne Bugeja Degorgio, 34, from Balzan.
The four stand charged, as officials of MCCS Co. Ltd, The Maltese Falcon Recruitment Services, Servizi Malta Ltd, Melita Health Services of the human trafficking of 31 Filipino nationals, of incorporating or financing a criminal organisation, forming part of that organisation and misappropriation.
Eileen Estaban, from the Philippines who is the human resources manager at Maltese Falcon Recruitment Services testified. She reports to Mr Paul and Joseph Degiorgio.
She said that last week, she was asked to shred a number of contracts in the office, and specified that employees were asked to shred contracts which had been signed in the Philippines, aka those contracts passed on to the prospective employees through the recruiting agencies over there.
Asked if employees sign another contract in Malta, she said she does not have first hand experience, she also said there were a lot of other contracts in the office. She later said she was aware that they signed another contract once here.
She was asked if employees sign another declaration in the Philippines aside from the contract. “What I remember is that last August I was asked by Mr Degiorgio to send a declaration to the Agents with a number of provisions in the declaration, mentioning for example that air fare is not free, that the company will not provide free food and that the laws of Malta should apply once they arrive”. Asked whether the employees sign these declarations, she said she personally never received them back, so she doesn’t know what happens to them.
Sometimes the agents would come to the office to speak with Mr Degiorgio, she said. She also received payments from the agents, usually the €500 down payment per applicant. As for other fees, “I have not received them personally but there is supposed to be more payments of around €1,000, for the processing of applications”.
When asked about her relationship with Mr Degiorgio (Joseph) She stressed that Mr Degiorgio is a good man and that she had nothing against him. “He might get moody sometimes but he treats us well”.
Asked if he ever threatened employees, she said at times he would shout at them when they would do something that harmed the company. “There are some employees who do wrong for the company and sometimes, when angry, would say that they have to surrender the ID card or something similar otherwise they would be deported”.
She said Josianne Degiorgio is not at all involved in the recruitment process.
Josianne Degiorgio, the witness said, is the administrator of M.C.C.S. “I only speak with Ms Degiorgio if there are problems with the ETC".
A former employee called Maria Rio Alger, also from the Philippines, said she resigned two weeks ago. She arrived in Malta last September. She had applied through a Philippine agency and “they told me I have to pay 250,000 pesos and then the application will be their responsibility. She paid in two instalments, the first of which was 170,000 pesos payment, and the rest was paid in February 2015 prior to her leaving the Philippines. She paid it after being granted a visa. She said she signed a contract which stated that accommodation will be free, that there would be a €100 food allowance etc. she exhibited a copy of the contract she signed in the Philippines. She said she did not sign any other declaration of sorts.
She said there was no explanation as to why the contract she signed in the Philippines was not honoured in Malta. Upon arrival, she was met by a driver employed by Mr Joseph Degiorgio. She was to a villa in tal-virtu Rabat. There were around 23 people living in that Villa. She was under impression accommodation would be free but after first month she began paying €100 per month for accommodation.
She was shown the declaration supposedly sent to the agents and also signed by those hired, however she said she never saw such a document.
She began working for the company at Maria Regina Middle-school as a cleaner in Naxxar, and worked 8 am to 8pm. She said she would receive two kinds of payslips if she worked more than the minimum hours. She presented a copy of them.
One was by M.C.C.S the other by JD contractors.
She said that in April 2016, there was a rumour that there would be a €168 deduction for the month. “We asked for a memo from the office in order to be informed as to why this was going to happen. But on April 7, the office asked for our signature for a new contract and this contract was ever mentioned prior to this date. So we were surprised and had no knowledge about it”.
“We tried to speak with someone at the office about it, but one of our flatmates was called in to sign the new contract and when he asked why the supervisor was mad for asking, she told him that if he did not sign he should punch out and go home”.
She also said that when she originally came to Malta she had to sign a new contract but a copy was never given to her, thus making this alleged new contract the third she would have to sign. The contract signed in Malta was different that the one signed in the Philippines, she said.
The court heard that on April 12, she went to resign instead of signing the third contract. She met with Josianne Degiorgio as well as two other people and said she was being yelled at. “I tried to explain to them why I was resigning, but they were yelling at me and bullying me. At the end of the conversation Ms Josianne told me she would call the police and she asked for my residence permit. I told her I don’t have it and I would not give it to her as it was illegal. She told me she would call the police. I don’t know if she called them but she called someone and spoke in Maltese”.
Sheila Isaac, born in the Philippines who living in Msida, said she originally worked for M.C.C.S.Co Ltd, but was transferred to Maltese Facon Recruitment Services last January, assisting applicants with the extension of permits, paperwork, filing, and she also corresponds with the foreign agencies.
She said when the prospective employee goes to Philippine agency they sign a contract as well as another declaration. She does not know if all employees sign it. She said that, with regard to the contract signed in the Philippines, Servizi Malta or MCCS would be a party in the contracts.
“When the applicants arrive in Malta, Mr Degiorgio asks me to tear the contract signed in the Philippines”. She said once they receive their Maltese IDs the employees brought over can start working.
She does not know why she was told to tear the contracts but said she just followed instructions.
She said that in the contracts she was asked to tear there were provisions entitling the workers to free accommodation, transportation and food. In actual fact, she said, the company does not provide these things.
The contracts which she tore were signed by Joseph Degiorgio, she explained.
She said she has a good relationship with Mr Degiorgio at the office, however mentioned that “when he is mad he is literally mad when he is calm he’s fine”. Asked if he ever told her something when he was mad, she said that when she doesn’t do something well he would tell her that he would send her back to the Philippines and deport her.
During her cross-examination, she described Mr Degiorgio as being a good person to all his employees. She said that Mr Degiorgio gets angry often, but naturally only when someone does something wrong.
Francis Magbanwar, from the Philippines residing in Guardamangia arrived in Malta on 27 June 2014. She came to Malta originally to work for another company and not Mr Clean, however now works as an office clerk.
In her contract, she said, she is meant to receive €700 a month and free lodging, however she does not receive free lodging.
With M.C.C.S she works 40 hours a week and is paid 4.20 per hour, adjusted to 4.64 this year.
Regarding the shredding of contracts, all she knew was that a certain Sheila had asked her if she had any employee contracts last week and if so to hand them over to her.
She said that if an employee works for more than 40 hours in a week, the employee would be paid extra in cash and the extra pay would be issued on a separate payslip under J.D. Contractors. Both slips would see the same hourly rate she said.
She described Joseph Degiorgio’s relationship with workers as good. “I know that many come to Mr Degiorgio for help, sometimes asking for loans as they don’t have cash etc, and Mr Degiorgio tries to help them”.
She was asked about the contract she signed in the Philippines before coming to Malta. While it was for a different company altogether, she said that in the Philippines there are certain requirements needed for a person to work abroad, however said that the agent there did explain that there would be different conditions once arriving in Malta.
Mr Clean Directors were also granted bail today, after the court said that it heard the testimony of witnesses who still work with the company and those remaining no longer work there.
Josianne Degiorgio was granted bail against a €5,000 deposit and a €15,000 personal guarantee.
The other three defendants were granted bail against a €10,000 deposit and €20,000 personal guarantee.
Lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Josianne Bugeja. Lawyers Marion Camilleri, Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia, are defence counsel to the other accused. Lara Dimitrijevic and Ann Maria Bisazza are appearing parte civile. Inspectors Joseph Buttigieg and John Spiteri are prosecuting.