Joseph Muscat insists on difference between ‘leak’ and ‘theft’ of information

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat yesterday insisted that the burning issue surrounding the publication of his private email correspondence with RTK's former acting editor was the way the emails had been obtained.

“The issue is how the information was obtained and not whether the emails are of public interest or not. It is the editor’s responsibility to ensure that the way the information was obtained did not breach any law," Muscat said on PBS's Bondiplus.

He added that Nathaniel Attard’s – the head of Net News – argument that he did not procure the emails in any illegal manner was not justified: “The police hold me responsible if I buy a stolen television, even though I wasn’t the one who stole it," Muscat said.

Yesterday, journalist Sabrina Agius asked the police to investigate the theft of her emails, citing a breach of the Computer Misuse Act.

On Radio 101, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi accused Muscat of turning Agius against her employer as she confided in him about what was going on at the radio station.

But Muscat rebutted the accusation, saying that he never told Agius what to do at Church radio station RTK: “Lawrence Gonzi has more than once instructed other media what they should and shouldn’t publish. If he wants he can file a libel suit and I will tell him exactly who these persons are in court.”

Asked why he went to Parliament with the case - where he raised hacking allegations - rather than asking the police directly to investigate, Muscat said he had every right as a member of parliament to raise the issue in parliament.

“But the spin has now turned into investigating the person who has had this information stolen rather than investigating who stole the information," Muscat said on Bondiplus.

As Bondiplus presenter Lou Bondi presented Muscat with five examples where the Labour media had made use of leaked information, such as the publication of emails of the anti-divorce camp during the referendum or the BWSC emails, the Opposition leader stressed on the difference between ‘leak’ and ‘theft’.

“Let’s differentiate between a leak and a theft: a leak is when there are two individuals having a conversation about something, and someone else then phones a third person – like for example from a rest-room – and leaks that conversation," Muscat said in a not-so-veiled reference to a fact established in court recently that Bondi or his partner Rachel Attard had called the columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia from the bathroom at the house of Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, to tell the columnist what their dinner host had been saying about her.

“Theft is different: someone went on a computer and stole that information. As if someone broke into your house and stole papers from your desk," Muscat said.

Asked whether more juicy information would have been revealed if it were really a case of hacking, Muscat said: “Who said they do not have other emails if they infiltrated my account?”

“I can say with certainty that the emails were stolen,” he insisted.

Muscat was also asked why he told Agius he "needed her at RTK", Muscat said the station had been giving Labour a fair coverage. “It is not the first time that we raised issues privately with RTK that they were not being fair with us. At least, thanks to Sabrina Agius, we were being given a fair chance to voice ourselves.”

In a brief reversal of roles, Muscat accused Bondi of forming part of “the clique behind the Prime Minister”.

In a reaction, Bondi told Muscat that he was ready to go on Labour TV station One to confront him on the accusation.

“You already have an invitation,” Muscat said.

“To debate with JPO [Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando]?” Bondi asked. “I debate with serious persons.”