Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

And now this.

It clearly is the "the tip of the iceberg".

At least a HUNDRED victims have been hacked by private investigators working for blue-chip companies, police finally admit - and no one has been arrested

MP said it could be 'the tip of the iceberg' as true scale started to emerge
Figure was revealed in letter from SOCA to MPs on home affairs committee

By Jack Doyle

PUBLISHED: 02:56, 21 August 2013 | UPDATED: 09:10, 21 August 2013

Daily Mail

The figure was revealed in a letter from the Serious Organised Crime Agency to MPs on the home affairs committee, chaired by Keith Vaz

At least 100 people were victims of private investigators involved in the blue-chip' hacking scandal, police have admitted.

As the first details of the true scale of the scandal emerged, an MP said it was likely to be just the tip of the iceberg'.

The figure was revealed in a letter from the Serious Organised Crime Agency to MPs on the home affairs committee, which is investigating the illegal activities of private eyes employed by leading non-media companies.

One member of the committee, Tory MP James Clappison, asked: What exactly is the position of the clients who hired these private detectives?

Have the police had full regard to the seriousness of the intrusion into the lives of individual members of the public of all this? There is on-going suspicion this is the tip of the iceberg of an enormous scandal.'

Controversy erupted when it emerged that Soca held a list of 102 firms that employed shady' private investigators engaged in blagging pretending to be someone to obtain their personal information unlawfully.

That list includes law firms, insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions. MPs now believe the scandal is worse than phone hacking'.

Despite the revelations, none of the clients of the private eyes behind the illegal activities has ever been arrested or charged.

Soca has passed the list of firms on to the committee but demanded it be kept from public view. It says there is no evidence anyone who hired the private detectives knew they were acting unlawfully.

But MPs have demanded further action be taken. Committee chairman Keith Vaz, who obtained the list and is considering whether to release it under parliamentary privilege, said The scale of the problem is now frighteningly apparent. It seems that for every private investigator in the country, there could be 25 victims.

It is clear that behind every client's request of a private investigator lies a victim of potential illegality.

This information has been in the possession of Soca since 2009. It is, therefore, imperative that those who have committed wrongdoing are brought to justice and I will be requesting a timetable of the action Soca and the Metropolitan Police intend to take.'

In his letter to Mr Vaz, Soca director-general Trevor Pearce said 91 of the potential victims have been contacted by the agency but nine have not.

Controversy erupted when it emerged that Soca held a list of 102 firms that employed 'shady' private investigators engaged in blagging (file picture)

The letter confirms that no one at the 102 firms that hired the private eyes has been arrested or charged, but says Soca is in talks with Scotland Yard and the data protection watchdog, the Office of the Information Commissioner, about what it should do next.

Of the 100 victims, around half are confirmed to have had their data blagged'.

Ministers are set to change the law so all private eyes must be registered and obey a code of conduct. Anyone caught breaking the law could be fined and banned from working as an investigator.

But Mr Vaz said: The Government's timetable for legislation next year is far too long and may be lost in the wash up before the next election.'

In recent weeks, the Daily Mail has revealed that lawyers were the biggest users of investigators, with 21 on the list. Pressure has been heaped on Soca to publish the list on public interest grounds.

The list was drawn up by Soca from intelligence gathered from only one investigation, and MPs suspect the agency may hold further details of allegations against other blue-chip corporations.