Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Magda Hassan]

Exclusive: Met investigating Rupert Murdoch firm News International as 'corporate suspect' over hacking and bribing offences

New twist in hacking scandal threatens global media empire as senior figures were questioned by officers at Scotland Yard

Tom Harper

Investigations Reporter

Saturday 17 August 2013

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Scotland Yard is investigating News International as a "corporate suspect" over hacking and bribing offences, it can be revealed.
The Independent has learnt the Metropolitan Police has opened an "active investigation" into the corporate liabilities of the UK newspaper group recently rebranded News UK which could have serious implications for the ability of its parent company News Corp to operate in the United States. One of Rupert Murdoch's most senior lawyers has been interviewed under caution on behalf of the company and two other very senior figures have been officially cautioned for corporate offences. John Turnbull, who works on News Corp's Management and Standards Committee (MSC) which co-ordinates the company's interactions with the Metropolitan Police, answered formal questions from detectives earlier this year.
The development has caused pandemonium at the upper echelons of the Murdoch media empire. Shortly afterwards, executives in America ordered that the company dramatically scale back its co-operation with the Metropolitan Police.
A News Corp analysis of the effects of a corporate charge, produced in New York, said the consequences could "kill the corporation and 46,000 jobs would be in jeopardy".
Lawyers for the media behemoth have pleaded with the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute the company as it would not be in the "public interest" to put thousands of jobs at risk. Gerson Zweifach, the group general counsel of News Corp, flew in to London for emergency talks with the Met last year. According to Scotland Yard, he told police: "Crappy governance is not a crime. The downstream effects of a prosecution would be apocalyptic. The US authorities' reaction would put the whole business at risk, as licences would be at risk."
The Independent can reveal that Scotland Yard warned News Corp that its UK subsidiary, which publishes The Sun and used to publish the now-defunct News of the World, was under formal investigation on 18 May last year.
A month later, Rupert Murdoch announced he was splitting the global empire he spent six decades building up into one of the most powerful companies in the world. The 82-year-old hived off the highly profitable television and film assets, including 21st Century Fox and Fox News, into a separate entity from the troubled newspaper group in what was widely perceived as an attempt to isolate any contagion from the phone-hacking scandal.
Tom Watson, the campaigning Labour MP, said: "This comes as no surprise. Parliament has already found Rupert Murdoch unfit to run an international company.
"He is responsible for the corporate culture that allowed this scandal to damage his global empire. I hope that other jurisdictions like Russia will begin to investigate the activities of News Corp around the world.
"The doom-laden internal analysis that the thousands of people who actually add value to the company may lose their jobs is bogus. If News Corp wants to clean up its act, it can easily do so by replacing the Murdochs with people who understand corporate social responsibility."
Lawyers for the Metropolitan Police identified News International as "suspects" as long ago as October 2011.
But the company did not appear to become aware of its status as a potential "corporate defendant" until April 2012 when Met detectives asked the MSC for "minutes of board meetings". The request triggered behind-the-scenes negotiations which eventually led to former Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers writing to the MSC a month later.
In a letter to the chairman Lord Grabiner, she said there was "an active investigation into the corporate liability of News International". The company immediately changed the terms of its co-operation with the police.
In an unpublished statement submitted to the Leveson Inquiry a month later, seen by The Independent, Lord Grabiner outlined the position of the company. He indicated it would be a "dereliction of duty" to continue co-operating with Scotland Yard if the police were planning a "corporate charge" against News International.
"At no point prior to May 2012 did the Met inform News International or the MSC that any corporate entity was a suspect," he said.
"It was only in early May 2012, following requests by the Metropolitan Police for information and documents that did not seem relevant to the matters understood to be under investigation in relation to individuals, that it appeared to the MSC the focus of the investigation had shifted to include the companies [News International and News Group Newspapers] without either company having been advised of this fact.
Later he added: "A suspect which is being asked to provide material for use in the investigation into its own liability is entitled to be advised that it is under suspicion in order that it can be advised of its rights and make informed decisions."
Lord Grabiner said that, following the disclosure, the company was still "co-operating" but felt "obliged to proceed with some care".
A senior Scotland Yard source said that after Ms Akers' letter there was a "suspension in co-operation" whilst the UK lawyers "took advice" from the board directors in New York.
He added: "They subsequently resumed co-operation, but on a more challenging, legal-led basis resulting in delays."
Lawyers for News Corp then continued to plead with the police not to pursue the company, raising the recent case involving Southwark Council, which avoided corporate manslaughter charges by providing full co-operation with an investigation into a fire that ripped through a dilapidated tower block, killing six people.
Since News Corp was informed of the development, a string of senior UK executives have left the company.
According to CPS guidelines, there appears to be no legal provision for dropping a corporate prosecution simply because a company under suspicion also happens to be a major employer.
However, the former Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the cessation of a three-year Serious Fraud Office investigation into BAE Systems in 2006 as it would affect "thousands of British jobs". Citing the "public interest", Mr Blair said the defence giant should not be prosecuted for paying bribes worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the Saudi royal family in order to secure the multibillion-pound al-Yamamah arms contract.
When members of the Saudi government found out that the SFO was probing their personal Swiss bank accounts, they also threatened to cut off all intelligence to Britain.
Last night a spokesman for News UK said: "We have co-operated with all relevant authorities throughout the process and our history of assistance is a matter of record in Lord Justice Leveson's report."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are not prepared to discuss this."
Explainer: How a company can be prosecuted
The Crown Prosecution Service can treat a company as a "legal person" who is "capable of being prosecuted".
Any organisation at the centre of a criminal investigation "should not be treated differently from an individual because of its artificial personality", according to the CPS.
The latest guidelines state: "A thorough enforcement of the criminal law against corporate offenders, where appropriate, will have a deterrent effect, protect the public and support ethical business practices.
"Prosecuting corporations, where appropriate, will capture the full range of criminality involved and thus lead to increased public confidence in the criminal justice system."
A company can be found guilty if any potential offender can be established as the "directing mind and will" of the organisation.
The Independent asked the CPS to explain what the possible penalties were for a corporate charge, including fines and custodial sentences, but the press office refused to discuss "hypotheticals".
Lawyers for News Corp believe the law on corporate prosecutions is a "mess" and have told the Met and CPS that any charge against the company will be vigorously challenged in court.
It appears the company is most concerned about the effect of corporate charges on the ability of News Corp to obtain unspecified "licences" in the United States.
A senior News Corp source said the "licences" are now under the domain of 21st Century Fox, the TV and film arm that was split from the newspaper group in June this year.
Timeline: Hacking saga
January 2007 Original phone-hacking prosecutions result in two convictions.
January 2011 Scotland Yard launches new investigation into phone hacking after embarrassing disclosures. Material seized years earlier is re-examined.
July 2011 Milly Dowler hacking scandal breaks. News Corp establishes Management and Standards Committee (MSC) to co-operate with police.
October 2011 The Metropolitan Police internally identifies News International as corporate "suspect".
November 2011 Leveson Inquiry starts.
April 2012 Met asks MSC for "minutes of board meetings".
May 2012 Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers tells MSC that company is under "active investigation". News Corp's co-operation with police dramatically scaled back.
June 2012 Rupert Murdoch announces plan to split News Corp in two. MSC tells Leveson Inquiry it would be a "dereliction of duty" to continue co-operating with Scotland Yard if police were planning a "corporate charge".
December 2012 Leveson Inquiry concludes.
March 2013 Rupert Murdoch is secretly recorded telling staff that "payments for news tips from cops" have been "going on a hundred years".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cri...71560.html

[Jan Klimkowski]

The Murdoch crime family spin: "thousands of jobs at risk".

The development has caused pandemonium at the upper echelons of the Murdoch media empire. Shortly afterwards, executives in America ordered that the company dramatically scale back its co-operation with the Metropolitan Police.
A News Corp analysis of the effects of a corporate charge, produced in New York, said the consequences could "kill the corporation and 46,000 jobs would be in jeopardy".
Lawyers for the media behemoth have pleaded with the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute the company as it would not be in the "public interest" to put thousands of jobs at risk. Gerson Zweifach, the group general counsel of News Corp, flew in to London for emergency talks with the Met last year. According to Scotland Yard, he told police: "Crappy governance is not a crime. The downstream effects of a prosecution would be apocalyptic. The US authorities' reaction would put the whole business at risk, as licences would be at risk."

The simple solution: get the Murdochs out of journalism.

Tom Watson, the campaigning Labour MP, said: "This comes as no surprise. Parliament has already found Rupert Murdoch unfit to run an international company.
"He is responsible for the corporate culture that allowed this scandal to damage his global empire. I hope that other jurisdictions like Russia will begin to investigate the activities of News Corp around the world.
"The doom-laden internal analysis that the thousands of people who actually add value to the company may lose their jobs is bogus. If News Corp wants to clean up its act, it can easily do so by replacing the Murdochs with people who understand corporate social responsibility."

[Jan Klimkowski]

Hmmmm......

The man appointed to investigate white collar financial crime "withdraws" before taking up the role.

What lies below the surface?

Mystery as new crime unit boss quits 'after failing security checks'

Jeremy Outen named head of National Crime Agency's Economic Crime Command in April but has now withdrawn from the role
Said he quit for 'personal reasons' but reports he failed security checks

By Arthur Martin and Rupert Steiner Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 01:25, 20 August 2013 | UPDATED: 09:47, 20 August 2013

Jeremy Outen has resigned as the head of the National Crime Agency's Economic Crime Command after failing security checks

A senior fraud investigator put in charge of fighting financial crime at a new FBI-style police agency will not take up the job after claims he failed the security vetting.

Jeremy Outen, a former partner at KPMG earning around £580,000 a year, was named as head of the National Crime Agency's Economic Crime Command in April.

Due to the role's highly sensitive nature, he was put through extensive vetting with experts trawling through his financial affairs, employment and personal life.

Last night well-placed sources confirmed that Mr Outen had failed the process. One said: He failed the direct vetting procedure which was a requirement of the job.

Mr Outen was given the option of going through the process again, but he declined.'

Last night, the former forensic accountant told the Daily Mail he withdrew from the role for personal reasons' but declined to reveal details.

Yesterday one report claimed his tax affairs had played a part in the decision. However, Mr Outen strenuously denied the allegation.

His departure comes two weeks after the resignation of Sir Ian Andrews, chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which will be rolled into the NCA when it launches this year.

Sir Ian quit after he failed to declare he owned a private company with his wife, who works for a global consultancy firm involved in security and investigations.

SOCA also faces damaging allegations that it failed to investigate City companies over the employment of corrupt private investigators.

Last night Mr Outen said: The reason I'm leaving, or not joining, is entirely personal. It is personal to me and it is not something I really want to discuss.

I know that people want to know what it is but I am not going to tell anybody what it is and there we are.'
One report claimed Mr Outen quite over his tax affairs while the Home Office said he left for 'personal reasons'

One report claimed Mr Outen quite over his tax affairs while the Home Office said he left for 'personal reasons'

When asked if it was because he failed the vetting, he said: I can't really talk about my vetting because the whole issue is surrounded by confidentiality which was imposed on me from the outset.

We are into difficult territory. What I am saying is I've withdrawn from the process and not the other way round, so you can work out from that that my vetting status isn't the issue.'

Mr Outen's departure comes two weeks after the resignation of Sir Ian Andrews as chairman of SOCA (pictured)

Mr Outen added that he was happy to deny categorically' that his tax affairs were an issue.

I have not been involved in any tax avoidance, or any other such arrangements. I never have been,' he said.

My tax affairs are very straightforward and I'm not aware that I am the subject of any investigation by the HMRC.'

When Mr Outen was appointed, Keith Bristow, director general of the NCA, said he was an exceptional candidate' who would be a major asset.

Home Secretary Theresa May added that Mr Outen had the skills and experience to tackle the challenges posed by economic crime'.

Although he has never been a police officer, Mr Outen has worked closely with government departments and law enforcement agencies in investigating complex fraud cases at home and abroad.

A forensic accountant with KPMG for 21 years, his previous cases have included the collapses of Kuwait Investment Office's investments in Spain and SBS-Agro in Moscow.

He has also investigated dormant Swiss bank accounts belonging to victims of Nazi persecution.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: Jeremy Outen has decided not to take up the post for personal reasons. Steps are being taken to ensure this position is filled.'

[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.

[David Guyatt]

But not naming any of the blue chip companies responsible, means no redress.

Or put another way: "how to break the law all the time and still evade justice".

The continuing fissure between power, corporations and the law on one hand, and ordinary people on the other intensifies.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Oh dear.....

Scapegoat needed quickly.

Police helped rogue private eye to steal criminal records... then covered it up: Serving officers illegally aided master blagger working for blue-chip firms

Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) knew five years ago that private detectives were using serving police officers
They would illegally obtain access to confidential criminal records
SOCA had previously refused to hand over names of blue-chip companies
They said corruption should have been investigated by Metropolitan Police

By Robert Verkaik And Abul Taher

PUBLISHED: 22:24, 31 August 2013 | UPDATED: 23:18, 31 August 2013 Daily Mail


Britain's equivalent of the FBI faces accusations of suppressing sensational evidence of police corruption at the heart of the blue-chip blagging' scandal.

The Mail on Sunday can today reveal that the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) knew five years ago that private detectives were using serving police officers to intrude on private individuals and illegally obtain access to confidential criminal records.

The details emerged in witness statements, emails and other documents shown to a Crown Court judge, who has conceded that it could represent credible evidence of corruption.
The private detective looked for confidential information about Johan Erik Boman, former husband of Polish-born ex-model Beata Boman (pictured). She made the headlines when she was spotted kissing Prince Andrew

The private detective looked for confidential information about Johan Erik Boman, former husband of Polish-born ex-model Beata Boman (pictured). She made the headlines when she was spotted kissing Prince Andrew

In a statement given to The Mail on Sunday, the Crown Prosecution Service said that in light of concerns surrounding the inquiry, which began in 2008, it had recalled the files and its lawyers were reviewing evidence which led to four private detectives being convicted.

Last night MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the new claims raised further questions about why SOCA has refused to hand over the names of 102 blue-chip companies which have links to corrupt private detectives.

Mr Vaz said: I am baffled as to why so much of this information has not been acted upon in the past five years. We need to know why this matter, a serious breach of the law, has gone unpunished.'
Despite evidence that private detectives had conducted illegal searches of criminal records on at least 32 occasions, SOCA appears to have failed to investigate, and not a single police officer has been questioned over the alleged offences.

To add to the confusion, when asked about the allegations, SOCA said that police corruption should have been investigated by the Metropolitan Police while Scotland Yard said it was a matter for SOCA.
Beate Boman has also been the victim of blagging, with six months of her bank statements accessed by Summers

Beate Boman has also been the victim of blagging, with six months of her bank statements accessed by Summers

The Mail on Sunday last week uncovered the names of 15 blue-chip companies linked to the rogue investigators sentenced for blagging. They appeared on a list belonging to a corrupt detective, John Spears. It is not suggested that the companies were aware anything illegal was being done.

SOCA already faces allegations that it is protecting firms by refusing to name those who hired private investigators (PIs) now known to be corrupt.

On Tuesday at a House of Commons meeting, MPs will challenge SOCA to release the identities of 102 firms linked to its investigation into the underground trade in personal banking data and other highly confidential information.
MP Keith Vaz said the claims raised further questions about why SOCA refused to hand over the names of 102 blue-chip companies which have links to corrupt private detectives

MP Keith Vaz said the claims raised further questions about why SOCA refused to hand over the names of 102 blue-chip companies which have links to corrupt private detectives

At the centre of the SOCA case, code-named Operation Millipede, are four corrupt private detectives. Last year Daniel Summers, 33, Graham Freeman, 52, former Metropolitan Police inspector Spears, 73, and another PI, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud people by blagging' personal information from banks and Government agencies.

A court transcript, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday, shows that Spears, who worked on the Brinks-Mat gold bullion robbery case, admitted to SOCA officers that he used serving police contacts to search confidential criminal databases.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Spears may have made more than 30 criminal record searches on behalf of security firms working for celebrities and City clients.

Durıng the sentencing in February last year, Judge Campbell raised hıs concerns wıth the Crown Prosecution Servıce about evidence of prıvate eyes usıng corrupt polıce offıcers.

Judge Campbell told the barrıster for the CPS that usıng corrupt offıcers in thıs way went beyond the charges of making false representatıons' or blagging' information.

But he saıd that although there may be evidence of police corruption' he could only sentence the private detectives for what they had been charged and to what they had pleaded guılty.

SOCA officers questioned Spears about these searches, which he code-named club searches'. SOCA said this label referred to police checks of the National Criminal Database.

According to the transcript, in SOCA interviews Spears admitted he could ring up and say, would you do a criminal records check for me? And he would give me a price and he would do it'.
PIs may have conducted a UK criminal records check on Spanish-based retired surgeon and pilot David Jackson, right, in May 2007

PIs may have conducted a UK criminal records check on Spanish-based retired surgeon and pilot David Jackson, right, in May 2007. Emails show the firm acted for a female client. Mr Jackson, 72, said: 'I haven't the foggiest why anybody would do a search on me.'

This is illegal as only police officers or government agency staff are allowed to use these databases to carry out authorised searches. The majority of the checks were carried out on behalf of a now defunct corporate investigations company called Modus International (Forensics) based in West London.

Last night the company's former director Max Hattersley-Hoskinson admitted he had worked with Mr Spears up until 2003 but denied ever commissioning him to carry out criminal records searches.

THE BLAGGER, THE SOCIALITE AND THE ANTIGUA CONNECTION

Spears told a client he could use old colleagues' in the National Drug And Money Laundering Control Policy Unit in Antigua, below, to do a records check on the ex-husband of New York socialite Beata Boman, who made headlines when she was seen kissing Prince Andrew in 2008

He described Spears as an old retired copper' and an accomplished investigator'.

Celebrity security firm Greymans appears on Spears' list along with the words club search'. A spokesman for the firm, which has ceased trading, confirmed that it had commissioned Spears three times a year between 2001 and 2003 but denied that it had ever asked him to do anything illegal or was aware that he had done anything illegal.

In an email referred to in court, sent by Spears to a contact in 2008, he promised he could use old colleagues', who SOCA presumed were serving police officers, in the National Drug And Money Laundering Control Policy Unit based in Antigua to carry out a criminal records check.

'He described his source at the unit as ultra-sensitive' who provided very, very confidential information'.

In that case, the private detective was looking for confidential information about Johan Erik Boman, former husband of Polish-born ex-model Beata Boman. Ms Boman told The Mail on Sunday she thought the unnamed overseas clients' were probably looking to recover debts from her ex-husband.

Ms Boman, a New York socialite, made headlines when she was seen kissing Prince Andrew in 2008.

She has also been the victim of blagging, with six months of her bank statements accessed by Summers.
Old colleagues in the National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy Unit in Antigua were used to do a records check

Old colleagues in the National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy Unit in Antigua were used to do a records check

SOCA said last night that police corruption stemming from Operation Millipede was a matter for the Met. But a Met spokesman told The Mail on Sunday that no police officer had been questioned.
Tory MP Rob Wilson said last night: That SOCA and the Met have apparently seen fit to sit on the evidence and therefore effectively cover it up is scandalous.'

A CPS spokesman said: We have retrieved the file in this case from our archives and are in the process of reviewing the papers.

This is a substantial task and is likely to take some weeks. We will not be in a position to provide any information on this case until that process is completed.'

[Jan Klimkowski]

Nine live investigations......

Police remove nine names from Soca list before publication

People subject to live investigations removed before select committee publishes clients of rogue private detectives

Press Association
theguardian.com, Saturday 7 September 2013 07.04 BST

Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Nine names have been removed from a controversial list of clients of rogue private detectives just days before it is expected to be published, Scotland Yard has said.

Trevor Pearce, director general of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), refused to release the document despite an ultimatum from MPs earlier this week.

His rejection paved the way for the Home Affairs select committee to publish the names on the list featuring law firms, insurance companies, financial services groups and celebrities on Monday, following threats from its chairman, Keith Vaz.

But a Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that nine names had been withdrawn from the file as they are subject of live investigations.

"In all, nine names have been removed from the Soca Operation Millipede list at the request of the Metropolitan Police Service as they are subject to live and an ongoing investigations," he said.

Five of the names related to Operation Tuleta, the force's investigation into computer hacking and other alleged privacy breaches, he said while four related to other investigations.

The names of about 100 firms and individuals who allegedly used corrupt private investigators was handed from Soca to the committee earlier this year on condition it was not published sparking a row over transparency.

In his letter to Vaz, Pearce said: "I remain firmly of the view that publishing the list of clients would affect ongoing investigations and inquiries."

Following a heated evidence session on Tuesday, Vaz told Pearce and Stephen Rimmer, Soca's interim chairman, the committee would publish the list on Monday if Soca did not do so first.

The so-called "blue-chip hacking" list was drawn up earlier this year at the request of the committee and relates to Soca's Operation Millipede, which led to the conviction of four private detectives for fraud last year.

In the letter, Pearce said Soca provided the client list to the committee in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines on the handling of sensitive information in confidence to select committees.

Vaz confirmed on 15 July that the committee would treat the list as confidential, Pearce said.

The director-general said the information commissioner and the Metropolitan Police did not want the names on the list published.

Pearce said: "I note the points raised by the committee in respect of individuals and companies wanting to know whether they are on the list, as this would inform their engagement with private investigators.

"All businesses should take proactive measures to ensure that where they use private investigators they do so in a lawful manner, irrespective of whether they are concerned as to whether or not they are on the list.

"I am clear, as is the Soca chairman, that Soca's responsibility in ensuring the integrity of an investigative process in the interests of justice has not changed and that therefore the confidential material as presented to and agreed with you should remain confidential."

Up to 100 individuals may have had their details accessed by the private investigators, Pearce previously revealed.

The information commissioner's office last week announced its own investigation into nearly 100 of the private eyes' clients.

Commenting on the row, prime minister David Cameron said: "There is the specific issue of an agreement between Soca and the Home Affairs select committee, and I think that is a matter for them.

"Select committees are quite correctly independent of government. If they reach an agreement with an independent agency about confidentiality that is a matter for them, that is not a matter for me.

"More generally, let me make two points. Hacking is wrong. It is against the law, and people who do it should be punished. As I've said on many occasions, the law should follow where the evidence leads.

"Secondly, we do have in our country and I think it's right an open system of justice. That's the way it should be. And that applies, as far as I'm concerned unless there are specific exemptions as there are in some very specific cases, the open system of justice should be just that."

[David Guyatt]

Curious eh. Normally Mr. Plod loves to drop names to the media as a prelude to conviction and, ahem, to enrich themselves.

Oh fuck! what I meant to say was "and, ahem, to demonstrate their unprejudiced and objective investigative professionalism", but my fingers slipped on the keyboard while I was eating my banana.

[David Guyatt]

The never ending fallout from the Murdoch press scandal

Cameron accused of misleading Leveson on Brooks friendshipNew book casts doubt over David Cameron's account to press inquiry over his personal ties with Rebekah Brooks

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
The Guardian, Sunday 29 September 2013 20.54 BST
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5342[/ATTACH]
Matthew d'Ancona has written that David Cameron was awestruck by the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
David Cameron gave misleading evidence to the Leveson inquiry over his friendship with the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, according to a new book by a journalist with close links to No 10.
In one of the most authoritative accounts of Downing Street's links with News International, Matthew d'Ancona also writes that the prime minister was awestruck by the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson.
D'Ancona, who has known the prime minister for 20 years, says the prime minister was wrong to tell the Leveson inquiry that he saw Brooks more frequently after her marriage to his Eton contemporary Charlie Brooks. "I was definitely seeing her more often because of my sort of friendship with Charlie and as a neighbour," Cameron told Leveson of his fellow members of the "Chipping Norton set".
The former Spectator editor dismisses this account in a new book on the coalition, In It Together. D'Ancona writes: "But this was misleading. Cameron knew Charlie Brooks only slightly before his marriage to Rebekah. It was Rebekah who brought him closer to Charlie, not the other way round."
D'Ancona writes that Brooks got close to Cameron by a mixture of charm and persuasion. He writes that Brooks was different from other journalist friends he named at Leveson, such as the Economist's Xan Smiley. "Rebekah Brooks was different. She was not a member of the Cameroon gang, the 'Notting Hill Set' or a veteran of the Tory research department. Yet her charm … had enabled her to break through Cameron's armour."
Brooks is due to stand trial next month on five charges in relation to allegations of conspiracy to hack phones, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. She denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
In his account of the coalition, d'Ancona writes that Cameron did not ask Coulson about allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World while he was editor. He writes: "Cameron was notably incurious in his conversations with his former employee about what, precisely, had happened at the newspaper on his watch."
Coulson is due to stand trial next month on three charges in relation to allegations of conspiring to hack phones and allegations over a conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office during his editorship. Coulson has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty.
D'Ancona writes of how Coulson became an indispensable member of Cameron's inner circle after joining the Tory party as communications director in 2007. He writes: "Coulson shared with [George] Osborne a desire to root coalition politics in a language that could be sold on the doorstep and pave the way to an outright Conservative victory in 2015.
"Cameron, in contrast, was awestruck by his communications director, whom he privately described in lyrical language … He treated Coulson as a redtop shaman, a source of knowledge about the world of tabloids, Essex and kitchen-table politics."
Coulson resigned as the No 10 communications director in January 2011 as reports about alleged phone hacking at the News of the World intensified. He denied any knowledge of illegal phone hacking and resigned because he said a spokesman could no longer continue when he needed a spokesman himself.
The book says the agreement between Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband over the Leveson report strained the coalition. In the early part of this year, when Clegg and Miliband were pressing the prime minister to strengthen his position, Cameron "snapped" at his deputy: "You can go off and do whatever you want with Labour!"
But Clegg had earlier told Cameron that the negotiations with Miliband showed why he did not want to enter a coalition with the Labour, despite the fact that Labour and the Lib Dems were closer on press reform. D'Ancona writes: "After one meeting of the party leaders in which the Labour leader had moralised a little too much, Clegg turned to Cameron and said: 'Now you can see why I don't want to go into coalition with him'."
The remarks by Clegg, which are relatively recent, may undermine his claim that he has no preference over a future Lib Dem coalition partner if the party holds the balance of power after the next election.
The book reveals that Cameron took his appearance before the Leveson enquiry so seriously that Lord Feldman, his old friend and tennis partner at Brasenose College Oxford, assumed the role of the counsel for the enquiry in a prep session.
Feldman himself faced pressure on Sunday over his own relations with the media when he appeared to change tack over allegations that he described Tory activists earlier this year as "swivel-eyed" loons. Feldman initially dismissed the claim that he made the remarks, reported in the Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, as "completely untrue".
But he told a Tory conference question and answer session with party members, which was inadvertently shown on the conference television channel: "For me it was particularly unpleasant because I felt that everything I had done since 2008 was aimed in that direction [improving relations with the voluntary party] and was distorted by these journalists. So, these things happen.
"I'm not a professional politician. I don't interact with journalists every day. They have chosen to − really a crass distortion of a conversation. And, as I say, it's not what I think and it's not what I said."
A No 10 source said of the claims about Cameron in the d'Ancona book: "The idea that the prime minister has misled Leveson is complete nonsense. The other claims are assertions that have no basis in reality."

[Magda Hassan]

First arrest in Operation Tuleta is journalist Ben Ashford

Journalist charged in hacking probe

A journalist is to become the first person to be charged as part of a national inquiry into allegations of computer hacking and other privacy breaches.

Published: Mon, September 30, 2013


​A journalist is the first person to be charged as part of a national inquiry into allegations of computer hacking and other privacy breaches.
Ben Ashford is to be charged with possession of criminal property and unauthorised access to computer material, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
It is the first charge to be brought under Operation Tuleta, the Scotland Yard investigation that is being run alongside inquiries into alleged phone hacking and corrupt payments to public officials.
Gregor McGill, a senior lawyer at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The CPS has today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Ben Ashford with one offence of possession of criminal property and one offence of unauthorised access to computer material."
Ashford will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on October 15.
Ashford has been accused of possessing criminal property between October 11 2009 and October 16 2009 - namely a mobile telephone belonging to Emma Murray - knowing or suspecting it to constitute a person's benefit from criminal conduct, the CPS said.
He is also charged with causing a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to a programme or data held in a computer, knowing that such access was unauthorised, between the same dates, the CPS said.
The offences are c ontrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Computer Misuse Act 1990 respectively.
A total of 21 arrests have been made under Operation Tuleta, which is investigating criminal acts that intrude on individual privacy for journalistic purposes, although two individuals have been told no further action is to be taken against them.
The inquiry includes offences that are not covered by Operation Weeting, which is looking at alleged phone hacking, or Operation Elveden, which is probing claims of corrupt payments to public officials.
The operation became caught up in a row between MPs and investigators over whether to publish a list of clients of rogue PIs.
Earlier this month, Scotland Yard removed nine names from the list, including five linked to Tuleta, because they are subject to live investigations.
The Home Affairs Select Committee had threatened to publish the list, but the issue is now being re-considered after objections from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Information Commissioner and the Metropolitan Police.
Today's move comes amid calls from human rights group Liberty for a six-month limit on the time people can be kept on police bail, as some suspects arrested under the various inquiries approach the second anniversary of being kept under investigation without charge.
James Welch, legal director for Liberty, said: "Bail is a crucial police tool but, with no time limit, people's lives are being put on hold and ruined by onerous bail conditions with no end in sight.

"A simple six-month statutory backstop would end the uncertainty and anxiety of having possible prosecution hanging over you indefinitely - and encourage prompt, efficient police investigations."

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/433335/...king-probe