Sai Mizzi, the Energy Minister''s wife 'lied' when she told the Maltese media last week that her basic salary was €3,700 monthly, because documents tabled in parliament yesterday showed a basic salary which was twice as high, the Nationalist Party said today.

The party said Ms Mizzi's contract, tabled by the prime minister, confirmed that her pay packet totalled €13,000 a month.

The prime minister also tabled the contracts of two ambassadors to China nominated by the former government and said their pay and conditions were the same as Ms Mizzi's.

But the PN said the issue was not over the ambassadors but about Ms Mizzi, a minister's wife appointed in a manner which did not happen in any serious country.

The PN said a conservative estimate of all the components of Ms Mizzi's package totalled €475,000 which, divided by the 36 month duration of the contract worked out at €13,000 per month.

Furthermore, she only paid tax on half her salary.

The PN noted that while the prime minister had said Ms Mizzi was being paid as much as an ambassador, Malta already had an ambassador to China, Clifford Borg Marks, appointed in August by the current government. 

See also http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140714/local/busuttil-we-were-right-sai-mizzi-gets-13000-a-month-ambassadorial-package.527716

In a reaction, the government reiterated that Ms Mizzi had the same package as Officers Serving Abroad appointed by the former government. The difference was that this government was achieving results.

It said the PN was persisting in being negative and the only time that the Leader of the Opposition was positive was when he 'kept his mouth shut'

Several contracts of former ambassadors were published (see pdfs below)