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Busuttil dubs appointment of minister’s wife as investment envoy 'scandalous'
Direct appointments of Sai Mizzi Liang and ‘energy guru’ Shiv Nair to Malta Enterprise attracts Opposition’s attention.
7 October 2013, 12:00am
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
2 min read
Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi with wife Sai Mizzi Liang. (Photo: Ray Attard/MediaToday)
The appointment of Energy Minister's wife Sai Mizzi Liang as Malta Enterprise's investment envoy to Asia was a "scandal", Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today.
Intervening during the parliamentary question time, Busuttil joined his fellow Nationalist MPs in calling on Economy Minister Chris Cardona to table a copy of Mizzi Liang's financial package.
Requests by MaltaToday to Malta Enterprise for a copy of her contract, together with that of government consultant Shiv Nair have been rejected.
Cardona said the Opposition MPs should table a parliamentary question, after which he would provide them with the necessary information.
He however said that Busuttil should withdraw his use of the word "scandal" when referring to the appointment of Mizzi Liang.
"I am aware that such a word was not part of your vocabulary before you became the leader of the PN and to face all those scandals. But let me assure you that the scandals stop the minute the Labour government was elected," Cardona told Busuttil.
Cardona added that if Busuttil though that everything "was as simple as 1 plus 1", he was "mistaken".
He reiterated that Mizzi Liang was an investment envoy and would be paid the same salary that two other investment envoys - appointed by the Nationalist administration - had enjoyed.
Insisting that envoys were directly appointed by the government, Cardona said the previous administration had sporadically awarded direct orders to individuals and companies close to the Nationalist Party.
He also said that "companies owned by some ministers" had been involved in consultancies to the previous administration as well.
This prompted an intervention by former finance minister Tonio Fenech who said Cardona should declare which Nationalist ministers he was referring to.
It turned out that Cardona had been referring to a contract dating back to 1991 which was awarded to Guido de Marco & Associates. The contract with Malta Enterprise is still valid to date.
The minister, who today tabled in parliament an extensive list of consultancies awarded by the Nationalist Administration to the various government departments and entities, also faced calls by Opposition MP George Pullicino to define Shiv Nair's role.
The British millionaire, resident in Malta with connections to the Chinese government, is the Maltese government's consultant on foreign direct investment, MaltaToday had revealed.
Nair is also debarred from the World Bank.
Pullicino said Cardona should declare Nair's financial package and state whether government will continue to make use of his services given he was blacklisted.
Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...
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Dr Busullotti. Tghidx li ma niftakarx, jew ma nafx jew li ma kontx hawn. Dan kif taghmel is-soltu ghax hlief titlob ir-risenji u taqa ghac-cajt m'intiex taghmel. Insomma nixtieq inkun naf x'inhi l-opinjoni tieghek ghalkemm dejjem mizera, rigward dawk il-miljuni ta' euros f'konsulenzi lil Georg Sapiano, Anne fenech (li dejjem tkun jdejk) u ohrajn. Oltre dan il-miljuni li nefaq fil-vojt Alan Camilleri u direct orders ta' miljuni ohrajn li inghataw minn dan camilleri u Tic Toc Toni. Nahseb taf m'inhuma dawn. Ghal darba ohra qed nistiednek li twegibni. Nitolbok rabbi ftit guts ghax in-nies mhumiex jemmnu ic-cucati bla sustanza li qed tghid. Diga kienu rawk qiesek tigiega mxarrba fl-aquarium tal- Where's Everybody meta bqajt gewwa mwerwer minn Franco Debono
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Busuttil, Pullicino & Co kemm insejtu malajr x'kien jigir that l-amministrazzjoni taghkom fl-ahhar snin jew issa isrtu puri daqs vergni u qed taraw kollox babaw jew tat-twerwir. Qed tergghu d-doqqu id-diska li kontu d-doqqu fit-80's imma llum kullhadd jaf li wiehed u wiehed jaghmlu tnejn.
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Just to name two appointments Simon. What about Austin Gatt's cousin who was appointed to EneMalta? What about the one appointed to AirMalta and his squandering of so many millions on the RJ70s against all advice?
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Thats the right direction you have taken Konrad , do jmuist your predecessor : BULLDOZ YOUR WAY AROUND , and let the opposition TALK BULL SHIT...
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I would dub the appointment of Mss Liang as the best investment we could have made to drum up business in the east, Certainly infinitely better than the millions spent in the useless Malta Enterprise buildings and in expensive delegations who never managed to obtain any positive results in their expensive trips to the East.
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the only scandal around in the last 6 months is the manner the opposition is behaving towards its citizens with constant lies, manipulations of facts, and attacks at Ministers in Government in an effort to deviate them from their urgent work to repair the damage caused by the massive Corruption of the previous Government. The PN in government had been absolutely corrupt, dishonest, abusive, arrogant to the limits, fraudulent, discriminatory with massive human rights abuses, oligarchic and insupportable, to the extent that the Maltese People booted them out with the greatest massive majority in Malta's Political History. They are still practicing all these disgusting attitudes and they cannot understand that the Maltese are just fed up with their old-fashioned, outdated politics. So just shut up and let our Ministers work for the good of us all, including you.
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Ghal Busuttil kollox huwa xokkanti u skandaluz. Ghadu johlom li huma tal-PN li qeghdin fil-gvern. Fi zmienhom bil-provi kien hemm skandli u korruzzjoni. Ghidilna kemm hu d-dejn li ghandu l-PN u jekk hux kollox itranga kif kien qal Chris Said li se jsir sa l-ahhar ta Settembru.
