Gentlemen’s clubs must be regulated, a magistrate declared yesterday, the second time that the courts have called on the government to control the growing industry.

Although what went on inside the club was immoral, such activity should no longer be considered illegitimate once regulated by proper legislation which ensured there was no abuse or exploitation, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said.

Ms Galea Sciberras made the declaration in a case where the director of Private Club, Joseph Zammit, 40, of St Julian’s, and club manager Duncan Fenech, 38, of Mġarr, were charged with running the club as a brothel.

They were taken to court after one of their dancers, Daniela Dinu, 25, from Romania, was caught by a policeman exposing her breasts as she gave a private lap dance to a client. In a separate case, Ms Dinu was fined €150 for indecent exposure.

The magistrate acquitted the men, saying there was no evidence to prove they had run the club as a brothel and the police had only taken action because she was topless.

The magistrate also noted that the prosecution failed to prove that they had allowed some immoral act to happen.

Ms Dinu said that bar staff had a clear view of the sofas and if a client were to touch one of the dancers, they would be ejected immediately.

Lap dancing clubs are run very differently from venues where prostitution occurs

A similar call for regulation was made by Magistrate Edwina Grima last October but although it appeared that the government planned to pass laws governing such clubs, what went on inside was still unregulated.

She pointed out that the only law regulating these sorts of entertainment spots applied to brothels and similar places, which was incorrect because lap dancing clubs were run very differently from venues where pros-titution occurred.

The magistrate noted that the law spoke of “committing an immoral act” but failed to define what was immoral.

In fact, different interpretations of the same law have emerged from court, with magistrates giving their own opinion on what constitutes immoral.

In February 2012, a Moroccan woman, 32-year-old Rajaa Mokaddem, from Casablanca, was acquitted of operating a brothel, offences against decency or morals committed in public, and indecent exposure.

She was found in a gentlemen’s club wearing a skimpy outfit where her g-string was exposed.

In another case, Magistrate Ian Farrugia ruled that topless lap dancing in a strip club did not offend morals because customers knew what to expect.

Rebecca Camilleri, 26, from St Paul’s Bay, was acquitted of offending public morals when she was found inside Steam strip club in Paceville with her bra pulled down while performing a lap dance.