Leisure Clothing imposed a limit on how much water its employees could drink and how much toilet paper they could use, limiting it to two rolls a month, a Vietnamese employee told a court yesterday.

Van Hoang Thi Cam also complained that the food they were fed was “inedible” and would often give her the runs.

She was testifying in the compilation of evidence against two directors of Leisure Clothing, Bin Han, 46, from San Ġwann, and Jia Liu, 31, from Birżebbuġa, who stand charged with human trafficking and exploitation of Chinese and Vietnamese people, and with misappropriating the employees’ wages.

Ms Van has been giving evidence about the working conditions she and her colleagues have had to endure at the garment company in Bulebel.

At the moment workers cannot be paid what they are owed

She said she worked from 7am to 9pm every day, with just one day off every two weeks. In April, the management changed the working conditions and she was allowed a day off every week.

Ms Van testified that she was allowed to drink 24 litres of water per month in winter and 36 litres in summer. Even when she was sick, she was not allowed to go home and get some rest but had two pills thrown at her and ordered to return to work.

Instead of being paid overtime, workers were paid a bonus according to their production of garments.

She said she received €150 in pocket money every two months and the rest of her salary was kept by the company.

Under cross examination, she confirmed a social event was once held in which a group of workers were taken to Gozo for the day, on their day off.

She also confirmed that her family called her regularly but if they phoned during working hours the time she spent on the phone with them would be deducted from her salary.

During yesterday’s sitting, the court also heard a court-appointed accountant testify that although there was an entry in the company’s books that it owed €534,000 in salaries, it only had €70,000 available. Furthermore, its €280,000 overdraft facility was used up.

“From the documents I have seen and the company’s present financial situation, at the moment workers cannot be paid what they are owed,” Marisa Ciappara said in reply to questions by lawyers representing Vietnamese workers.

Ms Ciappara said she had asked the company for employment contracts, time sheets, punch clock details, rosters and payslips.

“I expected to be given the documents from a file but the office was so disorganised that there was no filing system and most documents were in Chinese,” she said.

From the documents she had seen, the employees were paid about €200 less than the minimum wage, she said.

She also expressed shock that the audited accounts for 2012 were signed by directors in July 2014 and filed with the Malta Financial Services Authority in August.

She said, when asked, that although she could see that €115,000 due in salaries were being transferred every month between accounts, she could not confirm where the money was going.

Quentin Tanti, a representative of the MFSA, said Leisure Clothing was registered in August 1986.  The company has three directors. Mr Han has been its managing director since January 1998, when the firm became a limited liability company, while Mr Liu has been a director and company secretary since August 2012. There are no charges against the third director.

At the end of the sitting, Magistrate Carol Peralta ordered that a request be sent to the President for more time to conclude the first phase of the compilation of evidence, noting that very little evidence produced so far by the prosecution substantiated the human trafficking charge.

The case continues.