OPM denies email leak to Times before being splashed on NET

Joseph Muscat’s ‘unsophisticated’ email conversation with an RTK journalist would have been blown out of proportion had it not been for the grisly and macabre execution by Misurata militia of Gaddafi in Sirte that took place on the following day. 

Retaliating to the onslaught on TV hosts Lou Bondi and Joe Azzopardi, the emails served to embarrass Muscat and open him up to criticism and spin for being careless and ‘manipulative’. 

More interestingly, Muscat’s emails were originally leaked to Times journalist Christian Peregin, before Sunday Times editor Steve Mallia decided at the last minute not to carry them.

The OPM has denied allegations that a ministry official passed on the emails to the Times.

The email correspondence was then carried by Nataniel Attard on NET TV. It is unclear whether the leak to NET originated from The Times or Castille.

MaltaToday is also informed that the Sabrina Agius emails also involved correspondence with prominent members of the Nationalist party, but these were not revealed by NET News.

The Times’ reluctance to carry the story gave Labour leader Joseph Muscat enough time to pre-empt NET and make a declaration in parliament on Wednesday, calling on the Speaker to investigate what he called ‘spying,’ theft of information' and ‘hacking’. 

He also referred to the leakage of information related to his personal medical records.

It appears this was not a case of hacking but simply an act of carelessness by Sabrina Agius, who worked on a fixed computer in the RTK newsroom. Agius left her Gmail account and password accessible. MaltaToday is reliably informed that a former colleague of Agius’s accessed her computer and made copies of all the emails.

Contacted by this newspaper, chairman Franco Azzopardi was asked whether he denies that persons within RTK accessed Agius’s email account. He was also asked whether he had had any contact with individuals close to the Nationalist Party over the leaked emails in the past few days.

Church Radio director with a ‘no comment’

The Chairperson of Church radio RTK would not comment on how personal emails belonging to one of its journalist ended up in the hands of Media.Link, the Nationalist Party media.

Azzopardi told MaltaToday that “because of proceedings in the industrial tribunal – which we have not yet been notified about – and because of ongoing disciplinary proceeding, [RTK] believes it shouldn’t issue public statements.”

Azzopardi was not in a position to confirm whether a police investigation has been initiated over the alleged hacking or access to Agius’s email account. Insisting that he did not want to add further to the issue, Azzopardi said that he is currently abroad and suggested Curia’s spokesman Kevin Papagiorcopolo should be contacted.

Contacting Papagiorcopolo via telephone proved to be futile, while an email remained unanswered by the time the article went to print. 

The whole episode took place a week after Agius had filed a complaint against RTK to the industrial tribunal over unfair and discriminatory treatment during a selection process to be appointed editor.

The embarrassment to Joseph Muscat was not only the revelation of the correspondence but also the fact that in the emails, he flippantly speaks of selecting Agius as a candidate for the next election, and then advises her to apply with The Times and PBS. 

The whole episode led the PN whispering campaign to describe Muscat as a ‘boy scout’ and of not being fit to be the future prime minister. Muscat was also accused of attempting to ‘plant’ journalists in the independent media.

The entire episode unfolded just as former NET journalist Josianne Camilleri was being appointed Head of News at RTK.