The Office of the Prime Minister denied claims by Maltatoday that it had leaked a private e-mail exchange between Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat and an RTK journalist to The Times or Net TV.

“It is absolutely untrue that ‘It was The Times who were regaled with the information from an Office of the Prime Minister source’,” the government said yesterday.

In a front page item yesterday, Maltatoday said Dr Muscat’s e-mails were “originally leaked” to a journalist of The Times. The OPM denied the claim, adding that “the reference to the Office of the Prime Minister in the statement ‘It is unclear whether the leak to Net originated from The Times or Castille’ is also absolutely untrue”.

Dr Muscat complained in Parliament last week that the private e-mail exchange landed in the hands of the PN media as a result of computer hacking since neither he nor RTK journalist Sabrina Agius released the correspondence. In the e-mails, Dr Muscat urges Ms Agius to keep her job at the Church-owned radio because the party “needs” her there, though he also expressed the wish that she joins The Times or the state broadcaster, PBS.

The journalist was suspended the morning after the exchange became public and is facing disciplinary proceedings.