The owners of two adult clubs in Paceville yesterday told a court that during a meeting with a number of senior police officers at the depot they were told that their dancers were allowed to perform pole and table dances, but that lap dancing was not permissible.

The owners were testifying during the compilation of evidence against 35 women who are all pleading not guilty to committing immoral acts in public, participating in a brothel and committing other indecent acts in public. Twenty-one are Russians, seven are Ukranian, four are Czech, two are Slovakian, one is from Estonia while one other is from Poland.

Yesterday was the first sitting during which the defence started presenting its case. The group of defence lawyers requested the court to suspend the sitting for a few minutes during which they, along with Superintendent Peter Paul Zammit, went to Agenda Bookshop at the Embassy Complex and purchased a copy of Playboy magazine and another magazine containing pictures of nude women called Perfect 10.

They later came to court and submitted the two magazines, which are readily available on the shelves of all leading newsagents, as evidence in their client’s defence.

Duncan Fenech, who said he was one of the directors of AO Malta Limited, the operators of AO Club and AO Platinum Club in Paceville and Bugibba, was first warned that he could choose not to testify if he felt he would incriminate himself. He replied: “Of course not. I want to testify because we have done nothing wrong.”

He explained that before opening his own clubs, he worked at Steam, another adult club involved in this case. He said he never had any problems with the authorities, including the police and the Malta Tourism Authority, except at the beginning when he employed a number of dancers without a working permit because these had not been issued yet.

When asked what kind of service is provided at his clubs, Mr Fenech replied: “We provide dancers dancing on stage and if customers want, they can pay for a lap dance. Both the type of clothes worn and the type of dancer did not change in the four years we have been operating. I was very surprised when the police raided us and arrested all the dancers,” he said.

He continued: “We were told we were being accused of white slavery. We had a meeting at the depot with senior police officials and were told that the girls could not wear a G-string. They said they cannot accept the situation any longer and that they could only tolerate pole dancing and table dancing in front of customers but that lap dancing was illegal,” he said. The club owners’ lawyers were not allowed to be present during this meeting.

Mr Fenech said his club had a permit to offer live entertainment and that according to the permit, people over the age of 16 were allowed to enter. However, the entrance age is restricted to 21 years and over. Even women can enter.

“My club is not a strip club. The girls wear a G-string, a bra and sometimes a see-through dress over everything. No one removes their clothes and none of the girls in my club are ever naked,” he said. Superintendent Zammit defined this as “an advanced state of nudity.”

Mr Fenech showed the court a copy of a 2007 calendar of topless and naked Maltese women with shots taken in various outdoor locations around Malta. He said he bought the calendar from a stationery.

Dr Joseph Giglio, one of the defence lawyers, requested permission to exhibit the calendar as evidence “as long as this also is not deemed as offending public morals,” he said, to which the women present in court giggled.

Mr Fenech continued: “The MTA told us that our business is good for conference and incentive travel. We advertise on the MTA magazine. We pay for the advert and they never refused our advert. We even advertise on the Air Malta in-flight magazine and we also pay for this.”

Under cross-examination, Mr Fenech was asked to define lap dancing. “The girl dances in front of a customer and during the dance sits on his lap. Sometimes there is contact. In some countries there is no body contact and our regulations state that the customers cannot touch the dancers.”

During yesterday’s sitting, one of the accused, Simona Hebauer, from Romania, took the witness stand to explain how she studied dancing for a number of years and was now being accused of doing something immoral. She said that during her studies, she was taught how to pole, table and lap dance and said she worked for several clubs in countries including Iceland, Italy, Sicily, Luxembourg, the Caribbean, Austria and Germany.

“Now I have to pole and table dance only. On 17 November (the day the police raided the establishments) I was dancing on the stage in a G-string, a bra and a transparent long dress. We were escorted outside wearing the same clothes while in other clubs, the girls were allowed to change their clothes. When I asked why we were not allowed to change, a policeman replied that everyone had to see how we were dressed. He said I was being arrested because I had a transparent dress and my tanga was showing. I cannot perform and practice my profession in jeans,” she said.

Ms Hebauer continued: “I’m a dancer, not a stripper, so I never take off my clothes. I’m offended because I did nothing wrong. I pay my taxes like others. I’m very disappointed because it’s not fair. When I went back to Romania, the press there was saying that Romanian girls were arrested in Malta for prostitution. I’m a dancer not a prostitute,” she concluded.

The case continues.

Police Superintendent Peter Paul Zammit, Inspectors Louise Calleja and Therese Sciberras are prosecuting. Magistrate Antonio Mizzi is presiding over the court.