Sai Mizzi Liang, wife of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, has been recruited by Malta Enterprise as its investment promotion envoy for Asia, Times of Malta has learnt.
The Office of the Prime Minister confirmed that Ms Mizzi Liang, who is of Asian origin and was granted Maltese citizenship in 2006, was a government envoy.
“Her responsibility is to promote Asian investment in Malta and Maltese exports to the same region – she has been engaged by Malta Enterprise for this purpose,” a spokesman said, adding that Ms Mizzi Liang would mainly operate from Shanghai.
The countries Ms Mizzi Liang will target include China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
“Sai Mizzi [Liang] is excellently qualified for her mission.
“Her conditions of employment are in line with those normally applicable to envoys,” the spokesman said.
Sai Mizzi [Liang] is excellently qualified for her mission
Sources close to the Ministry for the Economy and Investment also confirmed that the minister’s wife had been working for Malta Enterprise in recent weeks and was already active on behalf of the Government agency in China.
The sources said Ms Mizzi Liang had been recruited without any public call as was normal procedure required by the Employment and Training Corporation.
Questions sent to the Economy Ministry over Ms Mizzi Liang’s recruitment and her financial package remained unanswered by the time of going to print.
The ministry also failed to say whether Ms Mizzi Liang’s recruitment was carried out according to employment regulations.
Times of Malta sent Ms Mizzi Liang an e-mail to her Malta Enterprise address, but this too remained unanswered.
An employee of the Embassy of Malta in Beijing confirmed Ms Mizzi Liang was currently “working on investment promotion for Malta” but could not give her contact details.
“She has been recruited recently but we don’t really have a clear indication of what she is actually doing,” he said.
“We were told she is representing the Office of the Prime Minister and that she will be working from a Shanghai-based office. However, we don’t have any further details,” the Government official said.
Prior to Ms Mizzi Liang’s recruitment, Malta Enterprise was represented in China by Paul Cardona, who used to work from an office in Guangzhou.
Last week, Mr Mizzi accompanied the Prime Minister to China where he signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Electric, a Chinese State-owned energy company, to become a minority shareholder of Enemalta.