Anti-divorce figureheads say emails were stolen, not leaked
Muscat emails | Anti-divorce movement say their private correspondence had been stolen, not leaked to the press.
The members of the anti-divorce movement Le are claiming their email correspondence was stolen when it was leaked and published by the press back in April 2011.
In the wake of a police complaint by the former acting editor of Church radio RTK into the leak of her private correspondence with Labour leader Joseph Muscat to the Nationalist media, the members of the anti-divorce movement are saying that Muscat should answer for the way their “stolen” emails were leaked to General Workers Union weekly It-Torca.
Referring to Muscat’s comments on Bondiplus on Monday that the ‘divorce emails’ were not stolen but leaked, Andre Camilleri, Fr Joe Borg, Ray Baldacchino, Lawrence Zammit and Arthur Galea Salomone have denied having leaked their group emails.
“On the contrary these emails, which were our private property, were stolen in an illicit manner and ended up being published by it-Torca and MaltaToday and broadcast by One TV and One Radio.
“We are of the opinion that Dr Muscat should provide to the Police any information he may have as to how stolen emails ended up in the hands of it-Torca, One TV and One Radio.”
The divorce emails contained a discussion in which media studies lecturer Fr Joe Borg suggested that parish chaplains forward them a list of separated couples and children from broken marriages to “speak intelligently” against a law on divorce.
Borg denied this was a reference to minors, but that it was important to give a voice to those “more vulnerable” to know what they think of the proposed divorce legislation.
Muscat has insisted that his private email correspondence with journalist Sabrina Agius were stolen. Agius asked the police to investigate the theft of her emails, citing a breach of the Computer Misuse Act.
Muscat said 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.