Appeals Tribunal says Malta Enterprise must disclose Sai Mizzi contract to MaltaToday

Matthew Vella

An appeals tribunal has overturned a decision by the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC), that upheld Malta Enterprise’s decision not to disclose the contract of employment for investment envoys Sai Mizzi Liang, wife of energy minister Konrad Mizzi, and British national Shiv Nair.

Nair was appointed on a €6,000 fee to assist minister Mizzi on energy matters; while Mizzi Liang was appointed as a trade envoy to Asia, and later consul-general in Shanghai, on an annual €160,000 salary.

The decision by the appeals tribunal was made after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat published extracts of Mizzi Liang’s contract, following a rare appearance she made as part of a Maltese delegation to China.

“It is an uncontested fact that Ms Sai Mizzi’s appointment with Malta Enterprise is a matter of public interest, not only because her husband is a member of the executive, but because her salary is paid out of public funds which should be under the greatest scrutiny possible, because this [Malta Enterprise] is a public entity,” the tribunal, chaired by Dr Noel Camilleri, said.

The tribunal said that since the appointments are of public interest, Malta Enterprise had to accede to MaltaToday’s requests while safeguarding any personal data included in the documents requested.

The tribunal’s decision was bolstered by references to case law and parliamentary speeches on the legislation at the time, saying that the FOIA itself allowed a wide range of documents to be available to the public, and that refusal of disclosure had to be backed up by arguments proving that disclosure would harm the public interest.

“It is a fact that since Ms Mizzi is the wife of a government minister, she is considered a public person so for the sake of transparency it is also important that the application of the FOIA and Data Protection Act are done in a way that reflects the spirit of the legislator when these two laws, so important for transparency in government administration, were passed.”

But the tribunal said that the IDPC could not consider Mizzi’s contract of employment as part of Malta Enterprise’s confidential operations at attracting investment.

Originally, Malta Enterprise requested that it should be the IDPC that determines whether disclosing the information would breach the two envoys’ privacy rights.

In his decision, IDPC Saviour Cachia considered that while personal data could be processed if “carried out in the public interest”, he also invoked Article 21(5) of the Malta Enterprise Act, which binds its investment envoys to treat “documents and information relating to [Malta Enterprise] as secret and confidential.”

But the appeals tribunal overturned this reasoning, saying that this clause dealt with secret information relative to the operations of Malta Enterprise, and when this concerns the country’s economic development and investment.

It agreed with MaltaToday’s appeal when it pointed out that the IDPC did not make it clear as to why disclosure of the information would not serve the public interest, when it was the Prime Minister – on a political whim – who later decided to present the allegedly ‘confidential’ information in the House of Representatives.

Sai Mizzi Liang - the facts

Her appointment as a trade envoy in Shanghai was Labour’s first blemish, sparking accusations of nepotism. Eventually it was also revealed that she had been made Malta’s consul-general to Shanghai in 2014.

Her contract was never published, and then excerpts were only made public in the summer of 2014, when Prime Minister Joseph Muscat published Mizzi Liang’s contract in parliament after she accompanied the Maltese delegation in China – a rare public appearance that forced Muscat’s hand into explaining how much the minister’s wife was being paid for her Shanghai posting.

Foreign minister George Vella has declared that it was not him who decided that she should be appointed consul, but that he had no objection to the appointment.

Together with a salary of more than €73,000 a year, more than half of which is non-taxable, Sai Mizzi also receives a representation allowance of €3,261 a year; a child allowance of almost €3,000 a year; a fully paid residence; an official car with fully paid expenses and fuel; and the full reimbursement of the use of her mobile phone. 

She is also entitled for payment of private schooling for her children – up to €18,783 a year; a 90 per cent reimbursement of medical, dental, and ophthalmic care for all members of her family; a one-time settling-in and outfit allowance; and 15 free flight tickets between Malta and Beijing for all members of her family, 10 of the tickets being business class.

The total amount per year works out at a little less than €160,000. Malta’s ambassador to China in Beijing, Clifford Borg Marks, is paid a €34,000 salary and €40,000 for his posting overseas.