Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/426299
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2014 News 6 Leisure Clothing director 'withheld passports', court hears MATTHEW AGIUS A court was told that Leisure Cloth- ing, the Chinese government-owned company, withheld workers' pass- ports in order to prevent the workers escaping, however the prosecution did not present any evidence sup- porting the charge of human traf- ficking. Antoine Grech, from the Depart- ment of Industrial and Employment Relations, testified that he had been told this by the director himself. Grech had reported this to Elizabeth Borg, the DIER's lawyer. Borg sought the advice of the At- torney General's office and on the strength of this, decided to send a written request to the Commissioner of Police to prosecute. Grech, who currently works for the OPM, testified that he had spoken to three Vietnamese workers at the Police HQ. During the first meeting, they had said that between Novem- ber and July they had only been paid €600 and did not have a copy of their contract. They claimed to have been told that they would receive the bal- ance at the end of the contract. The witness told the court that Leisure Clothing's HR manager had contacted him some days later and a meeting with managing director Han Bin and the HR manager was held. He alleged that Han Bin had told him that salaries were kept in safe deposit boxes "because they feared that the employees would escape". Han Bin could be seen shaking his head vigorously as the translator translated Grech's testimony. Magistrate Carol Peralta asked the witness if he was aware of any re- strictions on their liberty. He replied in the negative. Cross-examined by the defence, he said he never dis- cussed human trafficking with his superiors. He confirmed that he had spoken to the Maltese shop stewards in July, who had told him that the Maltese workers had no problems but could not vouch for the others. The magistrate was told that the collective agreement between a un- ion and the company covered only the Maltese. "By agreement they were not covered, but by law they had minimum rights… It appears, from my understanding, that the ac- cused had never denied keeping the passports in the safety deposit box. I have no doubts that if an employee were to leave the company, he would receive the balance. The monies, if owed, would be given if requested. There is something, however, that is bothering me – this allegation that the documents were being kept to prevent their escape." Inspector Darren Buhagiar had told the court how, on July 26, he had been informed that three Asians had been arrested attempting to board the catamaran to Sicily with false Italian papers. Investigations showed that the persons were Vietnamese employees of Leisure Clothing. He testified that one of the Viet- namese had asked for a pen and pa- per to write something down, as the inspector could not understand her English. She wrote: "I want transla- tion please, Vietnamese, help me please. I don't want to see boss, boss China no good, please help me." She told Inspector Buhagiar that she was on a €200-€300 monthly sal- ary. Buhagiar said the workers had told him that they were "invited by Mr Han to work in Malta" and had applied for a work visa in their own name, as per procedure. The magistrate was not impressed, saying that this is what every other foreigner who comes to Malta to work does and asked as to its rel- evance. The inspector explained that their Vietnamese passports were be- ing kept under lock and key in the factory. Han Bin was the only holder of the keys and he was abroad at the time. Prosecuting Inspector Sylvana Briffa asked him if he had investigat- ed why the Vietnamese had tried to escape without telling their employ- er. "They were scared and did not want to work there anymore. From what I could understand, they were being exploited". Asked if there was an agreement of some sort regarding the outstand- ing salary balances with the factory, the inspector answered that he had not delved into this issue, however he said that they had claimed to be working for 12 hours a day on a sev- en-day week. The magistrate remarked that if the passports of every worker were being held in the safe but could be accessed on demand, that did not support the human trafficking thesis. Romina Veneziani from the DIER testified that she had received a po- lice report informing her that three Vietnamese persons had been ar- rested at the seaport for attempting to use false documents and that they had claimed that their employer had not paid them. They had claimed that their salary was held in a safe by their employer and that they were being given €200 a month. She could not confirm whether there was an agreement with their employers, but that insofar as she had been informed by the employees, they could sign out batches of €200. After consulting with DIER inspec- tors, the suspicions of human traf- ficking emerged. She said she had never encountered a case where the employer held on to the pay. "We usually prosecute for deductions, let alone withholding pay," she said. She could not confirm whether any funds had been deposited in the ac- counts. Veneziani told the court that after the DIER heard reports of passports being held by the employer, it wrote to the police commissioner, request- ing he investigate the matter fur- ther. "Have you ever had cases of with- held pay?" asked defence lawyer Edward Gatt. Veneziani replied in the affirmative. "And were they ar- raigned for human trafficking?" The witness could not answer as her de- partment did not prosecute. The Magistrate expressed his concern at the fact that it had not emerged where the pay issue had arisen. "Did you not ask them why they did not ask their employer for their money?" Gatt continued: "Visa applications were made in Beijing. Bin Han was in Malta at the time. Han Bin did not possess Padre Pio's gift of bi-lo- cation. Who made the request? Did you check who processed the visa application? If I told you there was a foreign company which dealt with the visas, what would you say? "The workers had enough money to go to Vietnam, in fact they had enough to pay their €1,000 bail to the immigration appeals board. Did you ask them what their intention to go to Catania was?" The witness replied that the Viet- namese had told her that they want- ed to go to Catania "and decide from there". Gatt suggested that if a worker's employment was terminated and consequently had the visa revoked and didn't want to go back to Viet- nam, the situation would make more sense. Inspectors Sylvana Briffa and Dar- ren Buhagiar prosecuted, while law- yers Edward Gatt and Pio Valletta defended the accused. Retired judge Philip Sciberras and lawyer Karl Briffa appeared in parte civile. Bormla woman arraigned in record time after attacking police officers AN argument in a shop that es- calated into fisticuffs near the Bormla police station landed a woman in court in record time yesterday afternoon. Magistrate Gabriella Vella heard that Jennifer Chetcuti, 46, from Bormla was arrested around 12:45pm yesterday. She was charged with attacking and in- sulting two police officers during the course of their duties, slightly injuring them and breaching the peace. Chetcuti looked on defiantly from the dock as her law yers, Ludwig Caruana and Annalise Debono, entered a plea of not guilt y. Inspector Josric Mifsud, pros- ecuting, objected to bail on the ground that the charges are of crimes against the police. He al- so requested the court to issue a protection order in favour of the two police officers. The magistrate granted Chet- cuti bail against a deposit of €500 and a personal guarantee of €5,000. Sources say that the police will be appealing the decision to grant bail. Zejtun man pleads guilty to fuel thefts A 36-year-old Zejtun man was sen- tenced to two years' jail, suspended for four, after he admitted commit- ting a string of fuel thefts from cars and factories. Charles Farrugia was charged with stealing two cars and a total of €540 worth of fuel from parked cars in Gudja, Zejtun, Zabbar and Paola, during which he slightly injured the owner of one of the vehicles. He was also charged with the attempted theft of a vehicle and with relaps- ing. Farrugia pleaded guilty to all charges. In addition to the suspended sen- tence, Magistrate Doreen Clarke noted that the accused had already been conditionally discharged in 2013 and so ordered him to pay a fine of €500 within a period of one year and placed him under a two- year probation order. Inspectors Carlos Cordina and Melvyn Camilleri prosecuted.