UPDATED/The prime minister says he always uses his private Gmail (even for government business)

In The Malta Independent this afternoon:

PM unaware of any donation by Cafe Premier owners to the PL

In the meantime, Dr Muscat said this afternoon that he had met Mario Camilleri – one of the owners of Cafe Premier – twice before the general election but denied that they spoke on the Cafe Premier.

He said he was not aware of any donations by Camilleri to the Labour Party but the government was still looking into the issue. Dr Muscat also said it did not result to him that any cabinet members had received donations from the owners of Cafe Premier.

Dr Muscat did not reply when asked who would be shouldering the political responsibility. He insisted that the government was being transparent and had nothing to hide. Asked why he had used a personal email for government business, Dr Muscat said he always used a private email.

He said he looked forward to the discussion within the Public Accounts Committee. The NAO report was right on some issues, he said, including the follow-up on the bureaucratic trail, but the government will be requiring clarifications on some other points.

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UPDATE: WHY USING YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL FOR OFFICIAL BUSINESS IS BAD PRACTICE

Using your personal email address for official business excludes your correspondence from the official audit trail. It means that nothing you communicate via email is automatically tracked in the official records.

This is comparable to sending out a letter from home on your personal letterhead, rather than using official stationery at the office and keeping a copy in the office files.

The prime minister should keep his Gmail address for communicating with friends on personal matters. For all government business, he has to use his official MITA gov.mt address.

The reason he does not do so is plain: he doesn’t want his email correspondence to become part of official government records. He wants to conceal it not just from his government, but from the government of anybody who succeeds him as prime minister.

He uses his personal Gmail for official government business because much of that business is not as official as it should be.

The reason he should use his official government email address for official government business is the very reason he does not do so.

He is not only keeping secrets from the public. He is keeping secrets from his own government.