Sai Mizzi Laing? Chris Cardona has no idea

Published: September 24, 2013 at 9:34am

Chris Cardona has no idea

The Minister for Malta Enterprise has no idea, he told Times of Malta, how Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife was recruited for a job supposedly developing business for that organisation.

The online edition reports this morning:

Economy Minister Chris Cardona yesterday said he had “no idea” how the Energy Minister’s wife was recruited by Malta Enterprise, an entity for which Dr Cardona is politically responsible.

However, he insisted that Sai Mizzi Liang’s recruitment did not require a public call “as she is specialised” in the area.

Asked for his comments, a week after the story appeared, Dr Cardona said he did not know how the recruitment was done.

Will the woman actually be doing any work at all – or is this a work-the-system way of indirectly doubling or tripling her husband’s salary while his fellow cabinet ministers (including Chris Cardona himself, the minister responsible) can do nothing about it?

You have to look back at those ‘hames mitt ewro fil-gimgha’ scandalised headlines and promos on Super One, promoted so assiduously by Labour fellow-travellers on Facebook, and laugh.

This is turning out to be one hell of a grab-fest.




33 Comments Comment

  1. La Redoute says:

    Chris Cardona should ask Shiv Nair for the details. Wasn’t he engaged by Malta Enterprise too? And isn’t he Muscat’s go-between in the behind-our-backs negotiations we’ve heard of so far?

    Sai Mizzi Laing is supposed to work out of an office in Shanghai. That’s conveniently distant from prying eyes. Will she actually go there, though?

  2. Dave says:

    The “knowledge-base naturali” just cracked me up.

    That only restricts the list of candidates to around 3 billion (asian).

    Besides, what is Mrs. Mizzi Liang’s background? From this stillborn domain (http://whois.domaintools.com/careforchildrenmalta.org) it seems she was all set for child care before her hubby struck gold…

  3. Matto says:

    “I know Nothing”.

    U mela….

  4. fifth horseman of the apocalypse says:

    They are actually working-the-system well because they know that their electoral victory of the 9th March was nothing more than a flash in the pan.

    [Daphne – I don’t agree. I think they are working to make it 10 years. They have understood how people’s minds (don’t) work and the last general election will have proved to them beyond doubt that people will hear what they want to hear and that hope (in terms of greed) dies last.]

  5. QahbuMalti says:

    Because I lived in England does that make me an expert in trade relations with the UK and the rest of the EU?

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Fucking A.

    • Joe Fenech says:

      In over five decades I lived in 4 other European countries other than Malta and have run a successful business. Still…never in my wildest dream would I project myself as an international business consultant . After all, which business is this lady into? Catering, property.. Where does her real expertise lie?

  6. curious says:

    We have been told that Sai Mizzi Laing will be based in Shanghai. That is not a couple of hours away from Malta.

    Isn’t the minister’s family going to suffer as a result of this post? Or will she be working from Malta and then gets to visit ‘work’ and ‘home’ for free?

  7. john says:

    I applied to join the law course but have been rejected.

    I was told that with two B’s and an A I am overqualified.

    So I approached One Productions to see if I could find a position there.

    I was told I would not be considered until I had an LLD.

    I am desperate. What do I do now?

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Despair not.

      Enrol for an architecture degree. Once you graduate, apply to join the law course as a senior student. By that time you’ll have accumulated credits in applied favouritism, MEPA waiting-list skipping (field and track) and theory of ostensible neutrality.

      You’ll be head-hunted in no time at all.

      If you play your cards right and choose Shanghai for your end-of-term holiday, you could even become ambassador.

      • john says:

        Thank you for the advice, HP.

        The trouble is that I was rather hoping not to be too stressed out at university. You know, like not having to go to lectures, and getting notes off the other students and still doing well in the exams.

        Somehow I don’t feel I’ll be able to do that in architecture. There’s the catch.

        Perhaps I should just stay on the dole and forget about university. I’m managing well enough I suppose. What with what Sheizan rakes in from her single-mother benefits, and the extras I earn on the side (know what I mean) you could say we’re sort of comfortable.

        But thank you anyway.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Our brave, sinewy and imjassrin forefathers, as the venerable Privitera teaches us, would make a few extra bob by pimping off their Sheizans.

        I, however, am a Mediterraneanid scoundrel and pimp of the 21st century. So I updated my business plan, and I make you a free present of it.

        Invest in a pair of fake poonts for your Sheizan. Don’t go for anything fancy. Quantity, not quality.

        Then she can charge 20 Euros a flash. Use technology to your advantage. A webcam and broadband will enable your Sheizan to work from home.

        In no time at all, you will recoup your investment. By then, university will seem like a bad idea. Which it is (I still rue the day).

  8. ciccio says:

    Does Mrs. Mizzi Liang get free tickets to travel to and fro China with family as part of her perks?

  9. Gigi says:

    What area is Sai Mizzi Laing specialised in? And how can we know whether she is truly specialised or not? We have a right to know since she is being paid by our taxes.

    • La Redoute says:

      Write to your MP and ask him/her to ask formally in parliament for the details of how Mrs Konrad Mizzi was recruited, her expertise and how that is relevant to her role, her compensation package, why no other candidate was considered, and why, when ambassadors are supposed to serve as trade envoys (Muscat’s words, not mine), Clifford Borg Marks was passed over for the job.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Milking the system right under the noses of the gullible round-eyed Maltese Mediterraneanids.

      That’s her specialism.

  10. canon says:

    Chris Cardona doesn’t know how Ms Sai Mizzi Liang was recruited by Malta Enterprise but it seems he knows more personal things about her than that.

  11. Joe Fenech says:

    “he insisted that Sai Mizzi Liang’s recruitment did not require a public call “as she is specialised” in the area.”

    Unbelievable.

  12. fifth horseman of the apocalypse says:

    Specialised in the area. Was she a tourist guide by any chance?

  13. Calculator says:

    Whatever Ms Sai Mizzi’s background or ‘natural expertise’, anyone worth their salt would know that anyone Chinese is not the best option to be an Asia-wide business-attracting envoy.

    Chinese businessmen would be thrilled, of course, but the rest of the countries in the region – including economic powerhouse Japan – are suspicious of China and the Chinese.

  14. Tracy says:

    Kif jghixu f’dan il-gideb kollu? Il-giddieb ghomru qasir jghid il-qawl malti

    If he is politically responsible and does know how the recruitment was done, he is not fit for the post of a minister.

  15. TROY says:

    SHAME ON YOU KONRAD

  16. Antoine Vella says:

    When asked about Mrs Mizzi, Chris Cardona didn’t just answer “I don’t know” but said “I have no idea”. There’s a difference.

  17. Bluey says:

    Vera tal- misthija.

  18. Wistin Schembri says:

    SInce when there is no need for a public call to engage a “specialised” person? Aren’t medical consultants “specialised” as they engaged after a public call?

    Come off it!

    Dr Cardona, please don’t give us this crap; you’re not talking to a bunch of idiots who clap just because you move your lips. Don’t add insult to injury. If you can’t tell the truth, please keep silent.

  19. Alf says:

    Speaking at a press conference outside the Malta Enterprise offices in Guardamangia, Dr Beppe Fenech Adami said this was a position that had been created specifically for the wife of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, who is Asian.

    No call for applications was made, he noted, adding that the only criterion for Mrs Mizzi’s appointment appeared to be that she spoke Chinese.

    Political responsibility, Dr Fenech Adami said, rested on the prime minister, because what had taken place was in sharp contrast to his promises of meritocracy, transparency and good governance.

  20. Allo Allo says:

    This is not a job that they cheated me or a PN supporter of. That such a job would not go to ANY Nationalist supporter however qualified is a foregone conclusion.

    They only cheated some other Labour supporter who may have deserved and been more qualified for the job. So, in the words of Franco Who: Hudu go fikom, intkom li tellajtuh u m’intkomx daqshekk tal-qalba. Dik hi l-meritokrazija taz-zija li wieghedkom sakemm ivvutajtulu. Hudu gost capcpu u komplu iddefenduh, fidili.

  21. Nanna kola says:

    Vera ministru tal -misthija. So much for all that showing off, telling Tonio Fenech ‘shame on you’ on television in the election campaign.

    He is a person with no principles, bearing in mind what he said before the election about being transparent and so on.

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