Minister ‘keeping three steps away’ from wife’s contract controversy

Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi “is keeping three steps away” from the controversy surrounding his wife Sai’s contract as trade envoy for Malta Enterprise.

Sai Mizzi Liang yesterday gave a rare comment to the press, while the trade envoy to China accompanied the Maltese delegation in a visit in Guiyang.

“I can show you my FS3,” Mizzi Liang told journalists in Guiyang, where Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his delegation were visiting as part of their China visit.
“It is untrue that I earn €13,000 a month. It’s just above €3,000 and I can show you my FS3 form,” Mizzi Liang, visibly upset about media stories on her employment, said.
“I was very upset, but I feel better talking to the press today,” she said. “Had I been asked how much I earned I would have divulged the precise amount myself. I was unaware that requests had been made.”

But energy minister Konrad Mizzi said today he did not want to get involved in the matter when asked whether her contract should have been published in full, to kill the speculation surrounding her salary.

“I’m keeping three steps away. It involves other ministries and I’m following developments from the media. In all honesty, I’m trying to stay away,” Mizzi said.

Malta Enterprise, Mizzi Liang’s employer, has never contested the reported salary of €13,000 per month for her role as a trade envoy to China. The government’s investment arm has repeatedly refused to issue details of her salary package and curriculum vitae to the press.

The Information and Data Protection Commissioner has upheld a refusal by Malta Enterprise to divulge the contract of employment for investment envoys Sai Mizzi Liang – wife of minister Konrad Mizzi – and British national Shiv Nair.

MaltaToday is appealing the IDPC decision.

But the IDPC appeals tribunal chairperson Dr Lynn Zahra said she will not preside over the decision because she was a former employee of Malta Enterprise’s predecessor, the Malta Development Corporation.

The IDPC upheld Malta Enterprise’s refusal to a freedom of information request by MaltaToday, even though the investment promotion corporation said that “in principle [it] is not against granting access to the documents requites.”

Mizzi Liang's CV, contract of employment and their full remuneration and benefits were excluded from the scope of the FOIA by virtue of Article 5(3) – which excludes personal data or any other information whose disclosure is prohibited by other laws.

Article 5 is a blanket exclusion clause that is invoked by most public authorities refusing to divulge any information through the FOIA, unless MPs request it in the House of Representatives.