A Chinese-owned garment factory in Żejtun recruited Vietnamese workers under false pretences, seized their passports, paid them €150 every two months, and used their withheld wages to run the business. Both directors were sentenced to 6 years' effective imprisonment and all company assets forfeited.
Criminal Court of Appeal · Judge Edwina Grima LLD · 6 January 2023
Leisure Clothing Limited (C8265), a garment factory operating from the Bulebel Industrial Estate in Żejtun, recruited workers from Vietnam through a Chinese intermediary and a Vietnamese agency called VIHATICO. The recruitment scheme was built on deception: workers were first shown a contract in Vietnamese offering €685 per month for a 60-hour week. After paying agency fees of around €4,000 — which most families had to borrow — they were presented with a second contract at the last minute before departure, with far worse conditions and a clause requiring €2,000 to be permanently retained by the company. Unable to walk away and lose their families' borrowed money, the workers signed. Upon arrival in Malta, the company immediately seized their passports. Workers were paid just €150 every two months. The contract required a minimum of €2,000 to remain in the company's account at all times — but the company's bank accounts were in the red, and Bin Han himself admitted in his police statement that workers' money was used 'for the running of the company'. Large sums were regularly transferred to the mother company in China. Workers could not refuse overtime, could not get sick without paying a fine, and lived five to a room in substandard lodgings. Maltese workers at the same factory were employed under normal Maltese labour conditions — the disparity was deliberate. Ten Vietnamese victims and one Chinese victim were identified, owed wages ranging from €9,036 to €30,306 each. The Court of Magistrates convicted Bin Han on charges 2–14 (misappropriation and wage violations) and gave a 2-year suspended sentence, but acquitted him of charge 1 (human trafficking). It acquitted Jia Liu entirely. The company was fined €200,000. Both the Attorney General and Bin Han appealed. The Criminal Court of Appeal, on 6 January 2023, upheld the AG's appeal entirely: On human trafficking: the appellate court found the First Court wrong to say the 'means' element was not proven. Deception was used from the very start — the bait-and-switch contracts, the non-refundable agency fees, the economic vulnerability of workers from poor families who had taken out loans. Once in Malta, passports were seized and freedom of movement suppressed. All three elements of trafficking — action, means, purpose of exploitation — were proven beyond reasonable doubt. On Jia Liu: as Marketing Director he was aware of the conditions in the factory. A director cannot claim ignorance as a defence; the law requires active supervision of company affairs. He failed to prove he had no knowledge or had taken steps to prevent the offences. Both accused were sentenced to 6 years' effective imprisonment. All their personal property and that of Leisure Clothing Limited was ordered forfeited in favour of the Government of Malta.
Bin Han: 6 years effective imprisonment, human trafficking and all other charges confirmed. Jia Liu: 6 years effective imprisonment, convicted of all charges on appeal (reversed from acquittal). Leisure Clothing Limited: €200,000 fine confirmed. All assets of both accused and the company forfeited to the Government of Malta. Victims compensated €103,212.43 in total.
Criminal Code Ch. 9 Art. 248A — human trafficking; Art. 293 — misappropriation; Art. 121D — corporate criminal liability; Art. 13 Interpretation Act Ch. 249 — vicarious liability of directors; Employment and Industrial Relations Act Ch. 452 Art. 45 — unpaid wages; Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Ch. 101 Art. 22(3A)(d) — forfeiture