‘It’s a lie to say I stayed at a hotel while visiting Malta’ – Sai Mizzi Liang

Konrad Mizzi’s wife testified via Skype this morning in a libel case against slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia • Lawyer for Caruana Galizia heirs says witnesses are fearful to testify after journalist was killed

Konrad Mizzi's wife Sai Mizzi Liang
Konrad Mizzi's wife Sai Mizzi Liang

Sai Mizzi Liang poured cold water on allegations that she had left Malta for good as she testified in a libel case against slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Mizzi Liang is the wife of Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi. The minister had filed libel proceedings against Caruana Galizia after she alleged he was having an extramarital affair with his communications aide Lindsey Gambin.

Caruana Galizia had claimed this was the reason why Mizzi’s wife “left for China”.

Mizzi and Gambin deny the allegations and sued the journalist.

During her testimony today via Skype, Mizzi Liang told Magistrate Francesco Depasquale that she had come to Malta “many times” and was “coming again soon”.

Examined by Caruana Galizia’s lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel, Mizzi Liang laughed when he asked her to list the visits she made to Malta since 2014.

“Quite a lot. I can’t remember, many times. Every holiday I had I came over. Summer holidays, Christmas… I don’t remember the number exactly,” she responded.

When asked to state the number of times she came to Malta this year, Mizzi Liang said she came for Easter but added she would be coming again “soon”.

Last year she had come for a “summer holiday, spring festival, Easter, the election and every school holiday, too”.

Asked whether she would ever send her children alone, she replied “I always bring my children when I come”.

Mizzi Liang said she stayed at the family home in Sliema and that the children had “stayed with us and our family”. She excluded staying in a hotel. “That is a complete lie,” she emphasised.

Her brief testimony over, the court fixed the date for the next sitting, in which the defendant is to give evidence.

“After one of my witnesses was blown up, I have a bit of a problem,” Zammit Maempel said, explaining that nobody wanted to testify.

Caruana Galizia was killed in a targeted bomb attack outside her home in October last year.

The case continues in October.

Lawyer Aaron Mifsud Bonnici and Abigail Critien are representing Mizzi and his wife. Lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel is counsel to the Caruana Galizia family.