Updated - adds statement by PN head of news, PL reaction - Opposition leader Joseph Muscat this evening asked the Speaker to investigate hacking of correspondence between him and RTK journalist Sabrina Agius and said this issue was a serious case of erosion of democracy.

Speaking in Parliament, Dr Muscat said he was asking the Speaker to investigate how the Nationalist Party and other persons who had the confidence of the Prime Minister, had got access to his correspondence, made over a period of months.

These persons, he said, had tried to entice journalists in the independent media to publish the correspondence, which referred to injustices, suggestions on parliamentary questions, information on alleged irregularities in Mita and other government organisations, the actions of some PBS presenters, criticism by Ms Agius of the PL media, the divorce campaign and her career.

In the correspondence he had encouraged her to apply to work at The Times or PBS.

The PN had tried to spin this correspondence, despite the fact that he had never ever interfered into who PBS or The Times engaged. It was ridiculous to even think he had such influence there.

Dr Muscat said that after the independent media did not publish this correspondence, the Nationalist Party opted to use its own media. This morning, during a visit to an IT company, he was asked by a Net TV reporter if he had ever tried to embed journalists in the independent media, precisely the spin which the PN had sought to give to this correspondence.

Clearly, Dr Muscat said, this correspondence had been acquired in an illicit and illegal manner. Somebody had either hacked his correspondence, that of Ms Agius, or both.

This information was acquired through spying by the government's party. In the UK and elsewhere such a situation had led to resignations by those involved in such matters, and those who know about them.

This case, Dr Muscat said, did not appear to be the first. One only needed to remember how some years ago the passwords of all MPs, members of the judiciary and others were allegedly lost.

One could also recall how Alfred Sant had spoken of his e-mails being hacked, and how, more recently, Evarist Bartolo and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando complained of phone tapping - but they were never even questioned for a proper investigation.

One could also recall how the personal details of all people who called to complain at any ministry or government department were passed on to the PN.

In court, even the medical record of a person who had attacked the PN was presented. These records had previously been offered by the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Edgar Galea Curmi, to a journalist.

Last week a former judge concluded that he could not exclude that the Cyrus Engrer case was taken to court only after Mr Engerer resigned from the PN.

The case he was speaking about now, Dr Muscat said, had to be seen in the context that Sabrina Agius had filed a case alleging political discrimination by RTK, which preferred to engage a former PN journalist as head of news.

To date, Dr Muscat said, he had not spoken of how even his own medical records and those of his wife had been made public.

But he could not stay silent any longer. Democracy was being eroded, and there was in this country a parallel secret service which was spying on politicians and journalists, trying to hinder their work or even trying to blackmail them.

No one, however, would stop him or any of the Labour MPs from doing their duty.

However, if their own correspondence could not be trusted, what about that of ordinary people?

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said the government had nothing against the holding of the investigation requested by Dr Muscat. The PN and the government have nothing to hide, but he wanted to deny the allegations of impropriety or illegality that had been made.

PN NEWS HEAD SAYS E-MAILS CAME FROM MUSCAT'S OWN DOMAIN

Nathaniel Attard, head of news at the PN media house, said in a statement this evening that no law was broken when copies of e-mail exchanges over a period of 11 months between Opposition leader Joseph Muscat and RTK journalist Sabrina Agius were handed to him.

It resulted from the documents themselves that the e-mails had emerged from Dr Muscat's own domain and not a government system, as had been alleged. Dr Muscat could himself verify from where these e-mails had come, Mr Attard said.

Mr Attard said the e-mails, which he was publishing, showed how the Leader of the Opposition was 'using' journalist Sabrina Agius for his political ends.

Mr Attard challenged the Opposition leader to table the documents on the Table of the House.

PL REPLY

The Labour Party said the PN media had now confirmed it was in possession of and had assumed responsibility for the correspondence between Dr Muscat and Ms Agius.

There was no other explanation other than that this correspondence was acquired through hacking, spying or theft of information from Dr Muscat, the journalist, or both, the PL said.

The PN media had belied the Foreign Minister, who had said that Dr Muscat's allegations were not true.

That Mr Attard was saying that the e-mails had not come from Dr Muscat's address on the  government's systems was no excuse, but rather confirmed the need for an intensive investigation by the Speaker.

The people, the PL said, were never as concerned as today about their freedom.

See correspondence as release by the PN on pdf below.