Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela has confirmed that the wife of the Tourism Minister, Sai Mizzi Liang, was no longer employed as Consul General in Shanghai but her whereabouts remain unknown.

Abela was answering a parliamentary question by opposition MP David Stellini who asked whether Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife was still employed by the Ministry in Shanghai.

It is not known whether Mizzi Liang has returned to Malta and whether she has ‘transitioned’ to the private sector as a government press statement said in 2016.

Questions sent to Konrad Mizzi on whether Mizzi Liang has returned to Malta and whether she’s anyway involved in the sale of Maltese passports remain unanswered.

Mizzi Liang was controversially appointed as Malta Enterprise’s trade envoy in the Chinese city in September 2013 on the direct instructions of the Prime Minister, known to be close to her husband, then the Minister for Health and Energy.

Mizzi Liang was awarded an unprecedented ambassadorial status and put on a €13,000 a month financial package, which also included a free residence, full-time driver and paid private education for her two children.

In 2014, then Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella appointed Mizzi Liang as Malta’s Consul General for Shanghai, also on the Prime Minister’s instructions.

Her job as trade envoy ended in February 2017 and in comments to The Shift News, Malta Enterprise head William Wait said, “Sai Mizzi is not employed by Malta Enterprise”.

Despite having her job terminated by both the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Malta Enterprise, The Times of Malta had reported last that Mizzi Liang was “seen at the Maltese Counsul-General in Shanghai on a daily basis.”