Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

Let's explore the case study in post #313 above, because its implications are serious.

It's relevant because it's a celebrity story, rather than a political malfeasance or corporate corruption story, and as a celebrity story it's the bread and butter of the Murdoch empire.

I would also argue that investigative techniques such as working wth whistleblowers who may be committing illegal acts in exposing malpractice is legitimate in the area of political malfeasance or corporate corruption, and largely illegitimate in the sphere of celebrities.

In other words, the source of celebrity tittle tattle does not deserve protection in the public interest.

Whereas a source who reveals a political lie or a crime against humanity does deserve such protection.

Football manager Harry Rednkapp (a celebrity in the UK, next manager of England) told the Quest inquiry into football corruption (led by former Met Police boss Lord Stevens), that he had offshore bank accounts in Monaco. The Quest inquiry had no legal powers to obtain financial details of such offshore bank accounts.

The Inland Revenue was investigating whether Portsmouth FC chairman Milan Mandaric had made payments to his employee Portsmouth manager Redknapp via Monaco with the intention of avoiding UK tax liability.

Redknapp is a notorious gobshite, whose post-match interviews are literally stream of conscoiusness and betray no thought as to the consequence of his actions.

The allegation from Redknapp's legal team was that the police, needing evidence as to the purpose of the money paid by Mandaric into Redknapp's Monaco accounts, deliberately leaked information about them to Murdoch hack Rob Beasley.

Beasley then coldcalled Redknapp directly before a cup final involving his team, and pressed him for an explanation of the Monaco accounts. Redknapp declared they were 5% commission on a transfer deal that Mandaric owed hm. Beasley taped the conversation, and the tape recording became police evidence in the trial.

defence QC John Kelsey-Fry attempted to get the evidence thrown out, claiming the "press is effectively conducting a satellite investigation".

Both Detective Inspector Dave Manley and the sports journalist Rob Beasley denied City of London police was the "source".

Beasley instead said he paid several thousand pounds to someone close to Redknapp.

So, Beasley paid his source.

The police deny being the source.

The defence QC has accused the police of providing the information to the Murdoch hack to further the police investigation.

If the QC is correct, what we have is not simple police corruption. Rather we have complicity between the Murdoch empire and the police, allegedly involving payments of money, to open a second front in a police investigation through the Murdoch press.

Would this constitute legitimate journalism? Not in my book.

Now consider this scenario in the context of some of the other cases we know of which are not about celebrities but rather threaten national security.

A prime example is the hacking of Kevin Fulton, a British agent who infiltrated the IRA and then turned whistleblower.

The background to this is the longstanding allegation that Martin McGuinness, former leader of the Provisional IRA and current Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, is a long-term asset of British intelligence. McGuinness denies the allegation.

My emphasis in bold:

Scotland Yard's investigation into the alleged hacking of computers on behalf of News International's newspapers has dramatically switched to Northern Ireland.

The Met officer in charge of the Yard's investigation, Detective Inspector Noel Beswick, yesterday spoke to a local journalist who alleges that he was the victim of computer hacking during a meeting at a solicitor's office.

Inspector Beswick has already interviewed a former army intelligence agent Kevin Fulton who has made a formal complaint that his computer system was penetrated by an unknown hacker six years ago in a trawl for a document about the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

Fulton told Beswick that he believes the hacker was looking for a document known as 'JJ8' which he hoped might be stored on his computer.

Fulton has alleged that material held on the computer, including emails, was obtained and passed to News International reporters.

Fulton made a complaint to the Police Ombudsman that in 2005 Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers had accessed his computer and provided material from it to journalists, but his complaint was rejected due to lack of evidence.

Inspector Beswick is expected to ask the PSNI to provide him with the computer they seized from Fulton during the raid on his London safe house so that experts can examine it to establish if a Trojan horse virus was put in it via an email to enable a hacker to have remote access.

Earlier this year Fulton's solicitor wrote to the Metropolitan police alleging that some of his emails had been intercepted in 2006.

Beswick replied in June saying that a small team of officers had been established by Scotland Yard to examine allegations that information had been obtained illegally by means other than voicemail which was being investigated under 'Operation Weeting'.

He said that Fulton's allegations fell into this category and would be examined under 'Operation Tuleta' by the Yard's SCD6 Economic and Specialist Crime unit.

It's understood that during the interview with Fulton a fortnight ago Inspector Beswick confirmed that his team had obtained material from News International's lawyers which corresponded with the contents of emails held on Fulton's computer.

Another former Army agent, who uses the pseudonym Sam Rosenfeld, is expected to make a statement to 'Operation Tuleta' officers next week to outline suspicions about the alleged obtaining of information from his computers in 2006.

Source.

Corruption?

Complicity?

The furtherance of deep political agendas by other means?

I don't expect the numerous formal investigations to go anywhere near this material in their final recommendations.