Malta Enterprise, the State entity which until last August employed Minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife as its envoy to China, is refusing to give the Data Protection Commissioner access to the performance appraisals of Sai Mizzi Liang’s work.
Access has been requested by the commissioner in connection with a Freedom of Information request made by the Times of Malta.
Despite public declarations by both Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Ms Mizzi Liang, to the effect that she should be judged on what she achieves, Malta Enterprise is now refusing to publish annual reports it was bound to draw up on her job performance.
The Sunday Times of Malta learnt that last month, Malta Enterprise, the government entity responsible for foreign investment, filed a legal case with the Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal challenging the commissioner’s order to give him access to the Sai Mizzi files.
Last summer, at the end of Ms Mizzi Liang’s three-year contract – which was not renewed following a joint decision by Dr Mizzi and his wife – the Times of Malta asked for a copy of the annual appraisals of Ms Mizzi Liang’s performance, under the Freedom of Information Act.
According to a clause in her contract, Malta Enterprise should have drawn up yearly appraisals on her performance in Shanghai. But the government entity has twice refused the request, citing a raft of laws including data protection and commercial secrecy rules.
The law gives him access to all entities, just like the police
This newspaper then asked the commissioner to investigate and reverse the decision.
But Malta Enterprise is now refusing to cooperate with the commissioner himself. The two have had a series of legal exchanges, including an order by the commissioner to submit the requested documents for his review or face legal sanctions, which may include fines.
This has culminated in a decision by Malta Enterprise to challenge the commissioner’s order at the appeals tribunal.
In the case, filed by Dr Katrina Borg-Cardona from Mifsud Bonnici Advocates on behalf of Malta Enterprise, the State entity is arguing that it is not bound to give any access to information to the commissioner as the law regulating Malta Enterprise is superior to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Incidentally, the same legal office provides legal assistance to the minister in private libel cases.
The commissioner has filed a reply arguing that Malta Enterprise’s position is legal nonsense as the law gives him access to all entities, just like the police.
There is a precedent to this situation. Three years ago Malta Enterprise had refused to provide information on Dr Mizzi’s wife, including the publication of her contract, but was ordered to reverse its decision by the appeals tribunal. When the contract was finally released in 2015, it resulted that, unlike other envoys, she had been given ambassadorial status with a financial package of €13,000 a month.
In a rare appearance in Malta in July 2015, two years into her contract, she had defended her salary and asked journalists to “judge me by what I do for you” at the end of her work.
To do just that, this newspaper tried to obtain Ms Mizzi Liang’s performance appraisals.
Last February, when Dr Mizzi had just been elected deputy leader of the Labour Party, he said the two had decided she would return to Malta at the end of her three-year stint as envoy in Shanghai.
Since then, Dr Mizzi resigned from his post after being found to have a secret company in Panama and was stripped of his portfolio although still kept on as a Minister Without Portfolio in Dr Muscat’s office.
It is not yet known whether, in the meantime, Ms Mizzi Liang has returned to Malta.
What Sai Mizzi Liang said in July 2015 at Smart City:
“My job is a salesman for Malta… please judge me when I deliver the results. There is a Chinese saying: it’s not important what you say but it’s important what you do. Judge me by my results and not by what people say. Judge me by what I do for you.”
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com