The phone hacking scandal has now gone beyond News of the World and has implicated Murdoch-owned The Sun and the Sunday Times. A senior policeman in charge of investigating phone hacking in 2006 says his phone was also hacked, as News Corp. stands accused of thwarting a criminal investigation.
The motion, which reads “This House believes that it is in the public interest for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation to withdraw their bid for BSkyB” is to be debated on Wednesday, July 13th.
Ed Miliband said ahead of the debate: “There are times when the House of Commons has got to rise to the occasion and speak for the public. We have said that the purchase of BSkyB should not proceed until after criminal inquiries are complete. The simplest way to achieve this is for Rupert Murdoch to recognise the feelings of the public and the will of the House of Commons and withdraw this bid. I am calling on Parliament to show its will tomorrow.”
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt referred Murdoch’s bid to the Competition Commission on Monday after News Corp. withdrew its offer to spin off Sky News as part of its takeover.
Jeremy Hunt told Parliament, “The Competition Commission will be able to give further full and exhaustive consideration to this merger, taking into account all relevant recent developments.”
Murdoch already owns 39 per cent of BSkyB but wishes to take full control. The Competition Commission inquiry could take several months.
On Tuesday morning, the Home Affairs Select Committee questioned two senior police officers involved in the 2006 investigation into phone hacking targeting members of the Royal Family.
Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who headed the 2006 inquiry, said that it was “highly probable” that some police officers had received bribes from news outlets. He expressed regret at not having done enough for those potentially affected by phone hacking and revealed that he himself had been targeting by phone hacking.
“I am 99 per cent certain my phone was hacked during the period of 2005/2006. Who by, I don’t know; the records don’t exist any more,” he told MPs.
Peter Clarke, the former deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, told the committee, “I was not only suspicious, I was as certain as I could be that they [News International] had something to hide.” He went on to say that the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Services had found themselves in a “legal impasse” owing to News International’s lack of cooperation and dropped the investigation. “The only way to get into this would have been to do an exhaustive analysis of all that material. Because of the range of life threatening activity which was going on at the time in terms of terrorist offences, I took the decision that this didn’t justify it,” Mr Clarke said.
Please read more … police officers … involved in protecting members of the Royal Family and then selling that information
Friends Read Free
Copy
Facebook
Tweet
