Cabinet guidelines regulating the use of private or personal e-mail accounts have stalled, the Times of Malta has learnt.

This newspaper last month reported how the government was examining different communication options which would include “clear and simple guidelines”, which ministers and parliamentary secretaries would be expected to follow when conducting official business.

A spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister had said the Malta Information Technology Agency was involved in the process for developing the new communications guidelines. However, sources said the guidelines had not yet been drafted and ministers were still operating without clear instructions.

Questions on whether the guidelines had been drafted and if they had been ignored were not answered by the Office of the Prime Minister.

The need for a clear communication protocol was flagged after it emerged that Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had used his private e-mail account to discuss corruption claims last year.

Back in December, Mr Bartolo admitted he should not have used a private Hotmail account to handle claims of abuse by a senior official at the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools (FTS).

His communication with former FTS CEO Philip Rizzo was tabled in Parliament after Mr Bartolo quoted from it during a parliamentary statement.

Mr Rizzo had first brought the e-mail issue to light by advising the minister to “check his Hotmail” when Mr Bartolo said he had been informed of claims of corruption in the issuing of direct orders for the renovation of government schools in August.

Mr Rizzo had drawn parallels with US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s own well-publicised e-mail controversy, a major issue in the recent US election.

Questioned about the matter, Mr Bartolo had told the Times of Malta: “Administratively, it shouldn’t happen but it doesn’t change the nature of things.

“Just because you’re using Hotmail, it doesn’t mean you’re hiding anything. The information Mr Rizzo received often came through Gmail or Onvol.

“It’s not the issue.”

Meanwhile, an OPM spokesman said the matter was a complicated one.

“One cannot take lightly the fact that e-mail addresses are carried over a number of years and people tend to keep sending e-mails on the original address they used to correspond with, particularly in a political system where a politician in an executive role has to keep in contact with constituents while separating government work from political work,” he said.

Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar has confirmed there existed “no such policy regulating the use of private e-mail accounts by public officers”.

Asked whether the government was moving towards a system whereby ministers would only use official ‘@gov.mt’ e-mail addresses, the spokesman would not commit one way or the other.

ivan.martin@timesofmalta.com

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