OPM leak to Caruana Galizia proves line of communication between PN and blogger

Updated 5:20pm with OPM right of reply

A journalist’s private correspondence with the Prime Minister’s spokesperson Gordon Pisani was leaked to the Malta Independent’s columnist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, hours before they were sent to the newspaper.

Answers from the OPM to questions from the Labour organ KullHadd, soliciting comment from the prime minister and his ministers over personal attacks in Caruana Galizia’s blog, were published on her blog before reaching the KullHadd newsroom.

The comments were never published on Sunday’s edition of KullHadd because the answers were received late in the day. Instead, they appeared on Caruana Galizia’s blog.

In a reply sent to MaltaToday, OPM spokesperson Gordon Pisani said the OPM categorically denied that the replies had been leaked by the Office. "The allegations attributed to OPM are completely unfounded."

The gaffe also proves the line of communication that exists between the Office of the Prime Minister, the Nationalist party, Pisani and Caruana Galizia: the columnist was in Israel during the weekend, but her blog published the said correspondence on Sunday, ostensibly unaware that the answers had not been published in KullHadd.

A string of personal attacks on Nationalist backbenchers, namely Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Jesmond Mugliett, Jean Pierre Farrugia and Robert Arrigo – always critical voices in the PN establishment – have formed the mainstay of Caruana Galizia’s blog.

The Office of the Prime Minister has denied using the blog as a covert way to push dirt against various MPs and media personalities. But the timing of ‘parallel’ spin campaigns in most media continues to confirm that Castille is feeding much of the information.