Leisure Clothing’s managing director admitted to the police he showed employment inspectors a contract that was in line with Maltese labour laws, a court heard yesterday.

Police Inspector Sylvana Briffa testified that Bin Han also said during interrogation that the contract he showed to Employment and Training Corporation officials was different to those signed by Chinese and Vietnamese workers.

He told the police the Bulebel-based company would first show workers a contract that was in line with Maltese laws but would then give them a contract in Vietnamese that was not in line with Maltese employment legislation, especially with regard to the salary.

Ms Briffa, stationed at the vice squad, was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Mr Bin, 46, from San Ġwann and Jia Liu, 31, from Birżebbuġa, who are charged with human trafficking and the exploitation of Chinese and Vietnamese workers at Leisure Clothing. They are pleading not guilty.

During yesterday’s sitting, which lasted almost six hours, the officer told Magistrate Carol Peralta that Mr Bin had said he was prepared to regularise the company’s position and bring all employees in line with Maltese employment legislation.

The police investigations started in August, when they received a report via e-mail from Jesuit Refugee Services lawyer Katrine Camilleri regarding the possibility of human trafficking of a number of Vietnamese workers.

When the police spoke to them, the workers said they were working for 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week and getting a measly €75 a month.

They also told the police they were threatened with deportation if they did not accept the “miserable” conditions.

In the meantime, the police had also received a report from the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations, which had investigated the complaints.

The workers had been employed through a Vietnamese recruitment agency, Vihatico.

It transpired yesterday that Leisure Clothing’s bank accounts were in the red and the company barely had enough money to cover a month’s operation. The management often used funds it was withholding from workers to keep the company running.

Mr Jia told the police that even part of his salary was being withheld by the company but insisted he had nothing to do with the company’s daily operations, nor with the workers’ employment conditions.

Kong Hu Yan, human resources manager of a Chinese consultancy firm that recruited workers for Leisure Clothing, testified that he had interviewed “hundreds” of workers and sent them to Malta over the span of four years.

He said his firm worked closely with Vihatico.

Mr Kong, said he “never saw” the contract the Vietnamese workers claimed they signed.

Asked by the court whether anyone of the people he recruited ever complained to him about the working conditions in Malta, Mr Kong said no one had complained.

“Some decided to return to Malta when their contract expired because it is better than working in China,” he said.

He said the company would issue a call for recruitment and people would apply.

Those who were interested would be asked to pay the agency €1,000 as a fee. His firm charged Vihatico $600 per person as an agency fee.

Magistrate orders on-site inspection

Magistrate Carol Peralta, who intends to visit the Ħal Far site tomorrow.

The presiding magistrate yesterday ordered an on-site inspection of the living quarters the workers were complaining about.

He said he would go to the Ħal Far site tomorrow morning at 10 to see for himself the state of the dormitory and the living conditions the workers were claiming they had to endure.

He decided to hold the inspection after he heard Inspector Sylvana Briffa say that the living quarters were small, crammed and dirty. The workers had a limit on the amount of toilet paper they could use and their bed had no linen, the court was told.

The officer also said that, since the police investigations began, the company had invested in the building to improve the conditions there.