Rebekah Brooks to be charged with perverting the course of justice

Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper wing and a key figure in the phone hacking crisis, is to face criminal charges over the scandal, it was announced Tuesday.

The Crown Prosecution Service said that Brooks “conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to pervert the course of justice.”

Speaking at a press conference, Alison Levitt, the chief adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that Brooks and five others —her husband, her assistant, their chauffeur, their security and the head of security at News International — had all been charged. (A seventh person was arrested but is not being charged.)

She claimed that, between July 6 and 19th of 2011, Brooks and her assistant had illegally removed seven boxes of material from News International headquarters, and that the group had tried to conceal information from the police about the phone hacking scandal. The charges all stem from actions allegedly taken at the very height of the phone hacking scandal which had suddenly engulfed the entire Murdoch empire.

Levitt said that she had concluded that there was “sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction” for the charges.

Brooks becomes by far the highest-profile member of the Murdoch inner circle to be criminally charged in connection with the scandal. She and the others are the first to face charges stemming from Operation Weeting, the police investigation into phone hacking that was launched in January of 2011.

Brooks was arrested in March and questioned about the allegations that led to Tuesday’s formal prosecution. She was also arrested in July of 2011 in relation to corruption.

Read more at the Huffington Post….

Subscribe

Ben Cohen's feed

Enter email below:

British police made six arrests early Tuesday in the British media’s phone hacking scandal, including Rebekah Brooks, the former top executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, The Associated Press has learned.

Police did not identify those arrested, but a person who had been briefed on the details said Brooks and her husband, a prominent horse breeder and a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron, were arrested at their house.

The six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, police said in a statement. The charge is an indication that investigators may be focusing on a possible coverup of the scope of phone hacking.

The investigation stems from widespread wrongdoing at Rupert Murdoch’s now-closed News of the World tabloid. The victims have ranged from celebrities and major politicians to the families of crime victims. Read more at the HuffingtonPost…

Subscribe

Ben Cohen's feed

Enter email below:

The scandal that knows no end just keeps getting worse and worse. This time, the ramifications will be devastating. From the Guardian:

Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard that they have found evidence to suggest she was targeted by the News of the World's investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who specialised in hacking voicemail.

Police had earlier told her correctly that her name was not among those recorded in Mulcaire's notes, but on Tuesday officers from Operation Weeting told her they had found her personal details among the investigator's notes. These had previously been thought to refer to a different target.

Subscribe

Ben Cohen's feed

Enter email below:

Two key quotes from Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch during the parliamentary hearing in the UK today (transcript via the Guardian):

Rupert Murdoch:

I didn't know of it [paying police bribes]. I'm sorry… if I can just say something. And this is not as an excuse – maybe it's an explanation of my laxity. The News of the World is less than one per cent of our company. I employ 53,000 people around the world who are proud, and great and ethical and distinguished people. Professionals in their lives. And perhaps I'm spread watching and appointing people whom I trust to run those divisions.

James Murdoch:

I do not have direct knowledge of what they knew and at what time but I can tell you that the critical new facts as I saw them and as the company saw them really emerged in the production of documentary information or evidence in the civil trials at the end of 2010. The duration from 2008, or 2007 I should say till the end of 2010, the length of time it took for that come clear and that real evidence to be there is a matter of deep frustration. Mine, I have to tell you I know and I sympathise with the frustration of this committee and it's a matter of real regret that the facts could not emerge and could not be gotten to, to my understanding, faster.

The Murdochs were obviously prepped well for the hearing, giving only prepared soundbyte answers designed to obsfucate rather than inform. James Murdoch, the more polished performer, spoke for most of the time doing his best to appear humble and helpful, while Murdoch senior was more curt and reluctant to offer up information while being grilled. If anyone expected a dramatic turn of events, they will be sorely disappointed. The hearings confirmed that:

1. The Murdochs still believe they did nothing wrong personally.

2.They are not culpable for the phone hacking and bribes paid by journalists and senior executives.

3.The links between their empire, the police and the government has not been improper or corrosive.

The problem for the Murdochs is that while the scandal may appear to be peaking, it has only really just begun. James and Rupert are attempting to stem the tide, and today's performance may or may not have done that. In reality, it doesn't really matter – the investigation will continue and as more and more people will be implied, it will be harder to contain the wider implications of a highly corrupt corporate culture. Corporate culture comes from the top, and Rupert Murdoch is ultimately responsible for what goes on inside his company.

He may stay on as head of News Corporation, but his authority, power and prestige have been irreversibly tarnished. No longer will he be invited to Downing St for cups of tea with the Prime Minister, and no longer will he influence which political party gets into power. It will be shocking if the UK does not implement stringent laws to prevent the consolidation of media conglomerates, and if that happens, Murdoch will be about as relevant to UK politics as Gordon Brown now is.

Subscribe

Ben Cohen's feed

Enter email below:

While the Murdochs scramble to contain the disaster over the phone hacking scandal, elements out of their control continue to escalate to the point of no return. Over the weekend, former executive of News International Rebekah Brooks was formerly arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption allegations.  Following her arrest, Britain's most senior policeman, Met police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson resigned stating:

"I have taken this decision as a consequence of the ongoing speculation and accusations relating to the Met's links with News International at a senior level and in particular in relation to Mr Neil Wallis."

The two dramatic events signal that the scandal is far from over, and will probably involve months and possibly years of investigation. How far up the food chain will it go? Who knows, but Rupert and James Murdoch should be very, very nervous. While they are doing their utmost to stem the tide of overwhelmingly negative PR, the truth is, events are now completely out of their control and they sit back like the rest of us and see where the chips fall.

The scandal is so epic in proportion that it is impossible to fully comprehend how deeply this will effect Britain's media and political establishment. While the Murdoch empire has been struck a potentially fatal blow, the political establishment will next come under scrutiny for its incestuous relationship with the press.

PM David Cameron is working over time to do his own containment, but his links to Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks will also come back to haunt him, possibly ruining his chances of reelection if he is seen to have had an improper relationship.

Amazingly, we are only witnessing the beginning of a very unique revolution.

Subscribe

Ben Cohen's feed

Enter email below:

Image by HowardLake

She had offered her resignation last week but it had been declined by Rupert and James Murdoch.

Today, following days of pressure from David Cameron, Ed Miliband and major News Corp shareholders, she told staff: "I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation.

"While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted."

Subscribe

Ben Cohen's feed

Enter email below: