PM guarded on data protection questions

The Prime Minister yesterday did not say whether he intends publishing correspondence bet-ween the PN general secretary and government ministers, which ended up at the centre of serious allegations concerning potential breaches of data protection.

"What is important is the answer that we gave... our official position," Lawrence Gonzi told The Times when asked whether the e-mails will be published.

The matter was first raised during the Opposition Leader's parliamentary speech on the budget last Monday. Dr Muscat had asked if the PN had received personal information about people who visited government ministries, departments and secretariats.

Dr Gonzi replied to his questioning with "absolute silence", Joseph Muscat said yesterday, as an article in Malta Today reported that PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier sent an e-mail requesting government ministries to send the party confidential information about people who approached ministries with complaints.

In a press release sent yesterday, Dr Borg Olivier said the e-mail revolved around better "customer care" coordination, and that the exercise always intended to respect data protection.

"I regret if this could have given the wrong impression, but assure that the PN's work is always within the parameters of the law, including the Data Protection Act," he said.

Similarly, Dr Gonzi said a "crystal clear" explanation had already been published in Maltatoday, together with a reply e-mail by his head of secretariat, Edgar Galea Curmi.

The e-mail by Mr Galea Curmi said that under no circumstance should any information about those who seek services from ministries be shared, unless the Data Protection Act is respected.

But the original one by Dr Borg Olivier or any other potential correspondence connected to this matter was not published. When asked whether he intended publishing this material to clarify the matter, Dr Gonzi simply made reference to the reply of his head of secretariat.

Several attempts to contact Dr Borg Olivier yesterday proved futile.