Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Peter Lemkin]

HEY! If he was 'good enough' for the CIA to help get rid of the Whitlam Govt.; good enough to help out Maggie and Blair and Bush and so many other do their dirty deeds, then he's 'good enough' to be a mainstream media magnet :wirlitzer: - its all in the definition of terms.......

[Jan Klimkowski]

The spin is in.

Murdoch's hired hacks are appearing across MSM to claim this is a Labour party conspiracy to slander the heroic entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch.

There are several "journalists", currently taking the Murdoch shilling, who I've seen on MSM today who should have their NUJ Press cards removed and burnt.

They are an absolute disgrace to the Fourth Estate, as is their Godfather, Rupert Murdoch, who debased the culture of journalism around the world.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Given the disgraceful MSM coverage, let's ensure it is writ large:

Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person" to exercise stewardship of a major international company, a committee of MPs has concluded, in a report highly critical of the mogul and his son James's role in the News of the World phone-hacking affair.

The Commons culture, media and sport select committee also concluded that James Murdoch showed "wilful ignorance" of the extent of phone hacking during 2009 and 2010.

The cross-party group of MPs said that Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International, was "complicit" in a cover-up at the newspaper group, and that Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, and the paper's ex-head of legal, Tom Crone, deliberately withheld crucial information and answered questions falsely. All three were accused of misleading parliament by the culture select committee.

Rupert Murdoch, the document said, "did not take steps to become fully informed about phone hacking" and "turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications".

[Magda Hassan]

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It is very disappointing, isn't it, when an old friend, a very, very old and, let's be frank, senile friend whom one hasn't seen for ages and barely spoke to even when I did see him, lets you down.Some of you will remember old Mr Murdoch even though, sadly, he can't remember anything now. He was one of CoAc's governors, though, I hasten to add, had no influence whatsoever on school policy, particularly not when we decided to install the Sky dish on the chapel roof, nor when the staff common room opted for the HD Sky Plus Digibox.
Old Murdoch was quite a character with his funny accent and his inappropriate friendship with all the previous headmasters!
But, sadly, time has taken its toll and really one should now just feel sorry for him, as he wanders about the school looking somewhat dishevelled and muttering to anyone who will listen that he was in and out of my office every day.
I hope that parents will accept my word on this and let the facts speak for themselves. The fact that I employed his friend Mr Coulson, that I went riding on his friend, Mrs Brookes', horse, went to a Christmas party with his son James and shared a lovely family picnic with old Mr M himself, demonstrates the lengths to which I went in order to avoid having any association with him whatsoever. I hope this puts an end to the matter as it does to Mr Hunt's career.
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http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.ph...issue=1313

[Peter Lemkin]

Given the disgraceful MSM coverage, let's ensure it is writ large:

Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person" to exercise stewardship of a major international company, a committee of MPs has concluded, in a report highly critical of the mogul and his son James's role in the News of the World phone-hacking affair.

The Commons culture, media and sport select committee also concluded that James Murdoch showed "wilful ignorance" of the extent of phone hacking during 2009 and 2010.

The cross-party group of MPs said that Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International, was "complicit" in a cover-up at the newspaper group, and that Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, and the paper's ex-head of legal, Tom Crone, deliberately withheld crucial information and answered questions falsely. All three were accused of misleading parliament by the culture select committee.

Rupert Murdoch, the document said, "did not take steps to become fully informed about phone hacking" and "turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications".

He was taped on the shoulder by the CIA for this 'job' and they apparently gave him the 'all clear' and the money to do what he did. They gave him US Citizenship in record time when he requested it and he has been doing their bidding [and that of several other Ultra-Reich elements in several nations] ever since. Yes, he is and always was 'unfit'....but they who taped him would have no other kind of person to run their visible arm of their propaganda machinery. It should not be surprising that a 'black' agency what made him also taught him 'black arts' by which to get his dirt [used for control as much as for titillating 'news']. They used this dirt as their 'ink'. If he is done away with, sadly, he will be replaced with similar or worse. It is the Propaganda Factory and those that pay for it that must be done away with....Murdock is just the face of this machinery...the visible face of a mostly invisible machine. Fox [FAUX] News is so blatantly propaganda, but allowed to hold forth...in fact, encouraged to. I'm skeptical that much will be done to stop Murdock and sure nothing will be done to stop this kind of media control by the Oligarchy UNTIL and UNLESS the People demand real change and not just replacing one propagandist puppet with a new one.

[Danny Jarman]

Lord Justice Leveson has granted eight government ministers "core participant" status at his inquiry - allowing them advance sight of witness statements.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17951137

Why? What are they scared of? And why is this not front page news on every newspaper?

[Magda Hassan]

How often does this happen in official inquiries?
Why not everyone get access to these? Why not just publish them for all?

[Peter Lemkin]

Lord Justice Leveson has granted eight government ministers "core participant" status at his inquiry - allowing them advance sight of witness statements.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17951137

Why? What are they scared of? And why is this not front page news on every newspaper?

We they given black REDACTION pens or TOP SECRET stamps too? [or the equivalent]...perhaps a shredder or burn bag?! Just asking! The least damning explanation is 'forewarned is forearmed'

[Magda Hassan]

Hubby Charlie will lose his lucrative training license if convicted of course.

Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks will be charged with perverting course of justice

Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, will be charged over the alleged


The former chief executive of News International, who resigned in July, was arrested in March along with her husband Charlie Brooks and five others.
They were questioned as part of part of Operation Sacha, an investigation into alleged attempts to destroy material relating to Scotland Yard's inquiries into phone-hacking, computer hacking and corrupt payments to public officials.
Last month, officers from the Metropolitan Police passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service on the seven people arrested.
All but the seventh were to be charged.
The group was questioned after it was claimed News International implemented an "email deletion policy" in response to legal action launched by phone hacking victims against News Group Newspapers, which published the News of the World.
Last year, police examined a computer, paperwork and a mobile phone found in a bag in a bin near the Brooks' London home the day after Mrs Brooks had been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and of corrupting police officers.
Mrs Brooks's spokesman said at the time that the bag and its contents belonged to Charlie Brooks, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph, and were nothing to do with Mrs Brooks or the phone-hacking case.
The discovery of the bag in a bin was put down by Mr Brooks to a mix-up over where the bag should be dropped off after he lent it to a friend. Mr Brooks said he had contacted police in an attempt to reclaim the bag after a cleaner found it and gave it to a security guard, who passed it to police.
Mr and Mrs Brooks and the five others were told of the CPS's decision moments before it was publicly announced.
Anyone charged with the offence can only be tried in a crown court, where the maximum sentence for those found guilty of perverting the course of justice is life imprisonment.
So far, no-one has been charged since Scotland Yard launched a fresh investigation into phone-hacking in January last year.
More than 40 people remain on bail after being questioned by detectives.
Mrs Brooks, 43, appeared at the Leveson inquiry on Friday but she could not be questioned about the allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World because of the criminal inquiry.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/p...stice.html

And from the Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, is to be charged with perverting the course of justice, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday.She faces three charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice including the alleged removal of seven cases of material from the archive of News International and the alleged concealment of documents and computers from officers investigating phone hacking.Brooks, who was arrested in March by Scotland Yard police officers investigating phone hacking, is the first person to face charges in the major criminal investigation into hacking and allegations of bribing public officials.Her husband, Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, is also to be charged, the CPS announced.Rebekah Brooks's former PA Cheryl Carter, News International's head of security, Mark Hanna, News International chauffeur Paul Edwards and security consultant Daryl Jorsling have also been told they will face charges, the CPS confirmed. One other person who was arrested, who has not been named, will not face charges.In a statement minutes before the official announcement from the CPS, Mr and Mrs Brooks said: "We deplore this weak and unjust decision. After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station."Brooks and her husband were told the decision on Tuesday morning when they returned to the police station to answer bail along with the five other suspects.The charges are as follows: That Rebekah Brooks between 6 July and 19 July 2011 conspired with Charles Brooks, Cheryl Carter, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards, Daryl Jorsling and persons unknown to conceal material from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service. That Rebekah Brooks and Cheryl Carter between 6 July and 9 July 2011 conspired together permanently to remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International. That Rebekah Brooks, Charles Brooks, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards and Daryl Jorsling conspired together and with persons unknown, between 15 July and 19 July 2011, to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.All six will appear before Westminster magistrates court on a date to be determined.Alison Levitt QC, the principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, announced the decision in a televised statement read out at CPS headquarters. She said: "This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability to explain the decisions reached in respect of allegations that Rebekah Brooks conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to pervert the course of justice."She said prosecutors had applied the tests required and found that there was sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution was required in the public interest.The charges are the first since Operation Weeting began. Scotland Yard has budgeted for three linked inquiries to run to 2015 at a cost of more than £40m. The CPS is still studying four more files which have been passed to it by detectives investigating phone hacking, leaks and alleged bribes to the police.

[Jan Klimkowski]

THREE counts of CONSPIRACY TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE.

This is a Common Law offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Rebekah Brooks charged with perverting the course of justice

Former News International chief executive, her husband and four others charged in phone-hacking inquiry

Sandra Laville, crime correspondent

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 May 2012 16.02 BST


Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, has been charged over allegations that she tried to conceal evidence from detectives investigating phone hacking and alleged bribes to public officials.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that Brooks, one of the most high-profile figures in the newspaper industry, would be charged with three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in July last year at the height of the police investigation.

Scotland Yard later confirmed she had been charged along with her husband, Charlie Brooks, and four others.

Brooks is accused of conspiring with others, including her husband, a racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, and her personal assistant, to conceal material from detectives.

Brooks and her husband were informed of the charging decision the first since the start of the Operation Weeting phone-hacking investigation last January when they answered their bail at a police station in London on Tuesday morning.

They are among six individuals from News International, along with the company's head of security, Mark Hanna, to be charged over allegations that they removed material, documents and computers to hide them from officers investigating phone hacking. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life, although the average term served in prison is 10 months.

In a statement, Brooks and her husband who are both close to David Cameron condemned the decision made by senior lawyers and overseen by Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions.

"We deplore this weak and unjust decision after the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS," the statement said. "We will respond later today after our return from the police station."

The CPS chose to announce the charges against Brooks, her husband and four others in a televised statement in the interests of "transparency and accountability".

Brooks is accused in one charge of conspiring with her PA, Cheryl Carter, to "remove seven boxes of material from the archives of News International".

In a separate charge she is accused of conspiring with her husband, Hanna, her chauffeur and a security consultant to conceal "documents and computers" from the investigating detectives. All the offences are alleged to have taken place in July last year.

Alison Levitt QC, Starmer's principal legal adviser, said the decision to charge six of the seven individuals arrested over the allegations came after prosecutors applied the two-stage test required of them when making charging decisions.

"I have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction," she said.

"I then considered the second stage of the test and I have concluded that a prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of the other six."

Levitt said the televised statement had been made in "the interests of transparency and accountability to explain the decisions reached in respect of allegations that Rebekah Brooks conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to pervert the course of justice".

She said detectives handed prosecutors a file of evidence on 27 March this year in relation to seven suspects: Brooks, her husband, Hanna, Carter, Paul Edwards who was Brooks's chauffeur employed by News International, and Daryl Jorsling, who provided security for Brooks, supplied by News international.

The seventh suspect who has not been named also provided security. But Levitt said no charges were to be laid against him.

Brooks is charged on count one that between 6 July and 19 July 2011 she conspired with Charles Brooks, Carter, Hanna, Edwards, Jorsling and persons unknown to conceal material from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.

On count two she is charged with Carter between 6 July and 9 July 2011 of conspiring together to permanently remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International. In the third count Brooks is charged with her husband, Hanna, Edwards and Jorsling and persons unknown of conspiring together between 15 July and 19 July 2011 to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.

In a statement issued through her solicitor, Carter said she "vigorously denies" the charges.

Hanna said: "I have no doubt that ultimately justice will prevail and I will be totally exonerated."

All the allegations relate to the police investigation into allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World and the Sun newspapers, Levitt said.

Brooks and her husband had travelled to London from their home in Oxfordshire to answer bail following their arrest in March on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. They were informed of the decision at that meeting. They have been bailed to appear at Westminster magistrates court along with the four others on June 13.

The six people are the first to be charged as a result of the new Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking. The inquiry is one of three linked investigations for which the Yard has budgeted £40m until 2015.

Carter was the first to be arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in January. Two months later the other suspects were arrested.

The news of the charges came as Scotland Yard announced on Tuesday that two people had been arrested in connection with alleged bribery of public officials.

A 50-year-old man who works for HM Revenue and Customs and a 43-year-old woman from the same address were arrested by officers from Operation Eleveden, the Met police operation investigating alleged bribery of public officials. The man was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and the woman on suspicion of aiding and abetting the offence.

Brooks was a high-flyer at News International. At 31, she became News of the World editor and three years later, in 2003, was given the editorship of the Sun. She was appointed chief executive of News International in 2009 before quitting in July 2011.

Days later she was arrested over alleged phone hacking and corruption offences, for which she remains on bail without charge. She was arrested again in March in connection with the separate allegation of perverting the course of justice along with her husband and others.

Charlie Brooks has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph as well as writing a novel entitled Citizen.

Prosecutors are still considering four files of evidence relating to at least 20 suspects and involving allegations of phone hacking, alleged bribery of public officials and misconduct in a public office from the linked inquiries.

Starmer said he was facing "very difficult and sensitive decisions" as he predicted last month that more cases were coming his way.

Police launched Operation Weeting, the inquiry devoted specifically to phone hacking, after receiving "significant new information" from News International on 26 January last year.

Operation Elveden was launched months later following allegations that News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers.

As the inquiry escalated officers launched three related operations: the Sasha inquiry into allegations of perverting the course of justice; Kilo, an inquiry into police leaks; and Tuleta, the investigation into computer-related offences.

News International did not immediately make a statement, but confirmed that it still employed Hanna and Edwards.

A spokesman for Rebekah Brooks said she and her husband were still with police, and that the couple were likely to release a further statement on Tuesday afternoon.