Douglas Caddy

Former NOTW journalist arrested The Independent Thursday, 18 August 2011 Another former News of the World journalist was being questioned today by detectives investigating phone hacking. The 38-year-old - reported to be ex-US editor James Desborough - was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications after arriving by appointment at a south London police station, Scotland Yard said. He becomes the 13th arrest of the fresh investigations into criminal activities at the Sunday tabloid. Desborough, who joined the News of the World in 2005, moved to America in 2009 having won a British Press Award for a series of showbiz scoops. A Scotland Yard spokesman said the suspect remains in custody over allegations of intercepting voicemails. The arrest comes a day after allegations of misconduct against former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson were dismissed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Scotland Yard's fresh investigation into phone hacking was launched in January. A series of high-profile figures have been arrested, including former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson. The scandal has already caused the closure of the News of the World after 168 years and the resignation of Sir Paul and assistant commissioner John Yates. Desborough, whose exclusives include TV host Fern Britton getting a gastric band fitted, was named as a suspect in a leak to the Guardian newspaper. PA

A life unravelled … whistleblower who incurred wrath of the Murdoch empire Relentless legal pursuit of ex-News Corp employee likened to 'Rambo tactics' By Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 August 2011 19.09 BST Five years ago Robert Emmel was enjoying the American dream. He lived in a detached house in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, drove a BMW, and earned $140,000 a year as an accounts director in a highly successful advertising company called News America Marketing. Today, Emmel is described by his lawyers as destitute. Jobless and in debt, he was discharged from bankruptcy last year. He does occasional consultancy work that last month brought in $500, and this month, court documents show, will probably produce nothing. His wife's earnings raise monthly household income to about $3,000 – half their outgoings. This is a cautionary tale about what can happen to someone who dares to become a corporate whistleblower. Or, more specifically, someone who incurs the wrath of News Corporation, the media empire owned by Rupert Murdoch, of which News America forms a part. Emmel's lawyer, Philip Hilder, has had a ringside seat at the gradual unravelling of his client's life. A former federal prosecutor based in Houston, Texas, Hilder is well versed in whistleblower cases having represented Sherron Watkins, who helped uncover the Enron scandal. Hilder said: "News America has engaged in Rambo litigation tactics. They have a scorched earth policy, and it's taken a huge toll on him." News Corp has devoted the efforts of up to 29 lawyers to pursuing Emmel personally, at a cost estimated at more than $2m. Emmel, by contrast, has relied on two lawyers, Hilder and Marc Garber in Atlanta, working for no pay since January 2009. Attention has been focused on News Corporation's activities in the UK, where the News of the World phone-hacking scandal has led to the arrest of 10 people associated with the company. In the US, oversight of News Corp is gathering pace with the department of justice and the FBI looking into the company, while senators are considering launching committee hearings into News Corp practices. One incident that US investigators are exploring is the hacking of a website run by one of News America's rivals, an instore advertising business called Floorgraphics. The firm discovered that its password-protected site had been breached from an IP address at News America's offices in Connecticut. News America has condemned the breach as a "violation of the standards of our company" but says it does not know how it happened. Emmel was one of the main witnesses for Floorgraphics at a subsequent trial against his old company. He worked for News America for seven years from 1999 to 2006, turning whistleblower in his final year there. The company is the leading US provider of in-store advertising services, helping to bring products from firms such as Coca-Cola, Kraft and Nabisco to the attention of supermarket shoppers. Headed by Paul Carlucci, who now publishes Murdoch's tabloid the New York Post, it enjoys annual revenues of more than $1bn and has a 90% stranglehold on the market. News America also has a record of legal disputes with its commercial rivals, three of whom have launched lawsuits against it in recent years accusing the firm of using unlawful practices. All three lawsuits – including the Floorgraphics one and cases initiated by Valassis and Insignia – were eventually settled, but not before News America agreed to pay an astounding $655m to end the disputes. Emmel acted as a whistleblower in all three cases. He gave two days of evidence in the Floorgraphics trial after which News America rapidly settled, and was also named in the Valassis and Insignia cases. By 2006 Emmel said he was increasingly concerned about what he alleged were improper practices on the part of his employers. He alleged that News America was engaging in "criminal conduct against competitors" and using "deceptive and illegal business practices" to defraud its retailer customers out of money owed. He claimed he had "substantial oral and documentary evidence" to support his allegation that the company had defrauded its own customers, used anti-competitive techniques against rival companies, and fraudulently inflated its reported earnings unbeknown to its shareholders. News America denies the allegations. In a statement, it said: "There have been three very public lawsuits about these matters and at no time during any of these legal proceedings was any evidence produced to support Mr Emmel's claims." For a year before he was sacked in November 2006, Emmel began compiling documentary evidence that he suggested backed up the allegations, and posted it to public bodies and individuals including the US securities and exchange commission, two senators, two Senate committees and the New York attorney general. It is not known what happened to Emmel's allegations within the regulatory bodies he approached. He posted one set of 55 pages of documents on 20 December 2006, shortly after he had been fired and a day before he signed a non-disclosure agreement with News America. That set of documents went to Nicholas Podsiadly, an official in Washington then working as an investigative counsel at the Senate finance committee. At one point, court documents show, Podsiadly said the committee was considering referring the allegations to the justice department and the federal trade commission. Podsiadly did not reply to a request for information. A spokeswoman for the finance committee said nothing would be done with any documents sent by Emmel until the litigation over them had ended. Emmel today remains under a court-imposed injunction that forbids him from disclosing anything from these documents. "I cannot comment," he said. News America learned of Emmel's whistleblowing activities after it had sacked him in a dispute over his timekeeping. It then unleashed its legal armoury against him. In April 2007 it filed a lawsuit accusing him of six violations relating to his disclosure of confidential information, pressing its case with more than 300 pleadings to the Georgia courts. The company said Emmel refused to return "tens of thousands of stolen documents" and added: "Initiating legal action was News America Marketing's only recourse to protect the company's private information." Despite the tenacity with which it has pursued Emmel, News America has had very little satisfaction through the courts. In March 2009 the district court in Georgia threw out all of its claims against him, bar one – a claim of breach of contract relating to his posting of the 55 pages of documents the day before he signed a non-disclosure agreement. Even that count, however, has been overturned by the US appeal court, which ruled in Emmel's favour in June, although the court kept the non-disclosure injunction in place noting that a significant proportion of Emmel's legal fees had been paid by News America's competitors. In 2009 the company made clear that it intended to go to trial to ask for $425,000 from Emmel to cover legal costs incurred in the breach of contract element of the lawsuit, as it was entitled to dothough the sum was way beyond his ability to pay. Emmel's lawyers say the move forced him into bankruptcy. News America then insisted on a deposition to extract financial information out of Emmel, a move that is allowable under the law but that astonished Emmel's bankruptcy lawyer, Danny Coleman, because he says there had been no suggestion from the authorities that anything about the bankruptcy was out of order. "In my view, that was an abuse of the legal system," he said. "They took the law to its extreme and they used it to harass my client and prolong his agony. After months of work on the deposition, nothing irregular was found. Hilder said he was struck by an irony in the Emmel case. "Here is a company, News Corp, that is in the business of disseminating information to the public, and yet its subsidiary does everything in its power to silence him." News America denies engaging in inappropriate litigation and insists that it only wants to protect commercially confidential information, adding that Emmel's lawyers were "once again attempting to distort the facts in this case". The company added it had "vigorously defended itself against Mr Emmel's charges against the company, all of which were dismissed by the court". It says the injunction does not prevent him from co-operating with any formal investigation into News America. The idea that Emmel had been driven into destitution was "preposterous", it said, "given his legal fees – to the tune of $750,000 – were paid by two competitors to News America". Emmel's lawyers do not dispute that until 2009 he received legal fees from Floorgraphics and Insignia, but say that was consistent with his role as a whistleblower against his old company. While legal proceedings continue, the injunction preventing Emmel from approaching corporate regulators remains in place. But the appeal court in June made one important proviso. Nothing in the injunction, it ruled, "prevents Emmel from complying with grand jury or court-issued subpoenas or from co-operating with law enforcement authorities in any formal investigations of News America".

John Yates faces inquiry into links with former News of the World executive IPCC to scrutinise claims former Met police assistant commissioner secured job for Neil Wallis's daughter By Josh Halliday and Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 August 2011 14.20 BST The police watchdog said on Wednesday it was opening an independent inquiry into allegations John Yates might have secured a job for the daughter of a former News of the World executive. But the Independent Police Complaints Commission effectively cleared Yates, Sir Paul Stephenson, the former commissioner, Peter Clarke, former deputy assistant commissioner, and Andy Hayman, former assistant commissioner, of carrying out any conduct that breached police disciplinary codes over their roles in the original phone-hacking inquiry and its review by Yates in 2009. Deborah Glass, deputy chair of the IPCC, said a clear distinction had to be made between what was a "recordable conduct matter" – conduct that was either criminal or amounted to a disciplinary offence – and the public concerns over phone hacking which would be investigated during the Leveson inquiry. She said however there were "serious issues that need to be scrutinised" about the links between top police officers and the media. The only allegation referred to the IPCC by the Metropolitan Police Authority which it will investigate fully and independently, she said, was the claim Yates secured a job at Scotland Yard for the daughter of Neil Wallis. Yates said in a statement on Wednesday: "I strongly deny any wrongdoing and I am completely confident that I will be exonerated. I have been entirely open about this matter and I will cooperate fully with the investigation which I hope will be conducted swiftly." He said he was pleased the IPCC had found that an inquiry into him was not required in relation to his involvement in the phone-hacking review. The IPCC said in the case of Yates's role in reviewing the original hacking inquiry his alleged conduct was not a matter which it was within their remit to investigate as it did not amount to recordable conduct. Glass said there would be no further investigation by the watchdog into the allegation. Yates had been questioned about this "over many hours in six separate parliamentary sessions" and she said "it is difficult to see what further investigation would achieve". She added that the current investigation which started in January 2011 made any further IPCC inquiry unnecessary. "We would agree that he made a poor decision in 2009. He himself has acknowledged that... he made a poor decision for which he has now taken responsibility," she said. The same was true of the allegations against Stephenson over his alleged oversight failure of Yates during his review in 2009 of the original hacking inquiry and his alleged reluctance to take responsibilty for it. In a statement released on Wednesday, the IPCC said that Stephenson could not be said to have committed misconduct in public office "because one of his officers may have carried out a poor investigation". In the case of Clarke, who was in charge of the original investigation into phone hacking, the IPCC said: "He has explained the parameters of the investigation, as well as the reasons why the huge volume of material seized at the time was not subject to analysis. "Had a complaint been made about the original investigation, fairness would require any investigation to consider whether his decision to set narrow parameters was reasonable and proportionate in all the circumstances as they existed at the time, which included some 70 live operations relating to terrorist plots." Glass said Hayman was not responsible for the original phone-hacking investigation although it was in his command. She said: "Although not referred to us by the MPA, his social contacts with News International and subsequent employment by the Times have been criticised. "While there are serious issues that need to be scrutinised about the extent of contact between senior police officers and the media, and particularly around hospitality, in the absence of any actual evidence of impropriety these are, in my view, for the inquiry to explore." Stephenson said the outcome was what he expected. "I regret resources have had to be expended on this matter," Stephenson added. He criticised the IPCC for looking into his decision to accept hospitality – which they decided not to investigate further after their initial consideration. "The IPCC's comments about my acceptance of assistance from a friend through my family unconnected with my professional life, of services form Champneys Medical Services which they chose to examine under their powers without any external referral does in my view fall a little short of full and proper context. However this is a matter for their judgment." The prime minister, David Cameron, said during a visit to Cheshire on Wednesday, in relation to the phone-hacking scandal: "Clearly if I had known then all the things I know now, then obviously I would have taken different decisions."

Murdochs savaged in withering attack by their own lawyers Harbottle & Lewis was criticised for its analysis of emails which allegedly contained 'obvious' evidence of criminality The Independent By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter Wednesday, 17 August 2011 Rupert Murdoch's own lawyers launched an extraordinary attack on him and his son yesterday by accusing News International of misleadingly using their advice to give his company a clean bill of health on phone hacking. Harbottle & Lewis, which has been criticised for its examination of NI emails which allegedly contained "blindingly obvious" evidence of criminality, turned on James Murdoch by saying it was "hard to credit" his explanation to MPs that the law firm's findings justified its claim that phone hacking had been fully investigated at the News of the World. The blue-chip law firm was publicly accused by Rupert Murdoch of having made a "major mistake" when it said it could find no proof of wrongdoing beyond a single "rogue reporter" when it was asked to conduct an internal review. In its first public comment on its role in the hacking scandal, the law firm said in evidence to the Commons media select committee that it had in fact been given a very narrow remit when it was approached by NI in 2007 to examine 300 internal emails from six NOTW executives for evidence that illegal voicemail interception went beyond disgraced royal editor Clive Goodman. A subsequent letter from Harbottle & Lewis, which stated it had found no "reasonable evidence" that any of the executives had known about phone hacking, was provided to MPs in 2009 as part of NI's claims that its internal inquiries into the "dark arts" of newsgathering had been exhaustive. In his evidence to MPs last month, James Murdoch said the company had relied on its external lawyers' findings when it put forward its now-abandoned defence that voicemail interception was restricted to a single "rogue reporter" in the shape of Mr Goodman. But the law firm, released from a duty of client confidentiality last month, said yesterday NI's use of its advice relating to an unfair dismissal claim by Mr Goodman was "self-serving". In its letter to the committee, Harbottle & Lewis said: "There was absolutely no question of the firm being asked to provide News International with a clean bill of health which it could deploy years later in wholly different contexts for wholly different purposes." In an interview with his own Wall Street Journal in July, Rupert Murdoch said Harbottle & Lewis had been taken on to find out "what the hell was going on" at the NOTW and the law firm had made a "major mistake" in its findings. Harbottle & Lewis said this assertion by the media mogul was "inaccurate and misleading". In its support, Jon Chapman, NI's former director of legal affairs, in a letter to the select committee, said: "To my knowledge, the 2007 email review was never intended to be general internal inquiry or investigation into the issue of voicemail interception at NOTW. To characterise and hold it out as such now... seems to be very misleading."

MPs split over disclosure of 'dynamite' hacking evidence The Independent By Cahal Milmo and Oliver Wright Tuesday, 16 August 2011 A committee of MPs investigating the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, which has received new evidence described by one member as "dynamite", is divided over whether to make the documents public this week. The House of Commons Media, Culture and Sport Select Committee will meet today to decide whether to disclose submissions from key figures following claims that James Murdoch was "mistaken" in aspects of evidence he gave to MPs last month. The dossier includes responses by Mr Murdoch to additional questions from MPs, as well as testimony from the paper's head lawyer, Tom Crone, and Colin Myler, who edited the NOTW before it was closed by the Murdoch family's media empire, News Corporation. It addresses the issue of whether Mr Murdoch knew of a crucial email which undermined the explanation that hacking was due to one "rogue reporter". Last week, Tom Watson, a Labour MP on the committee, said the documents were "dynamite" and he would vote for their disclosure. But The Independent understands that there is no unanimity among MPs about the timing of the publication of the documents, and some members are "reticent" about releasing them today. The committee will also decide whether to recall Mr Murdoch, but this may not happen until Parliament reconvenes next month. Mr Murdoch, the boss of News Corp in Europe, stands by his testimony to MPs that he had no knowledge of the so-called "for Neville" email, which suggests that knowledge of hacking went beyond one reporter at the NOTW. But his assertion has been challenged by Mr Myler and Mr Crone, who say Mr Murdoch was aware of the email in 2008, when he signed off on a £700,000 out-of-court settlement with Gordon Taylor, head of the Professional Footballers' Association. The Independent understands that a submission has also been supplied to MPs by Harbottle & Lewis, the law firm which conducted a review of internal News International emails in 2007 and found they contained no evidence of "illegal actions". Lord Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, who reviewed the documents in May, said it was "blindingly obvious" that they held evidence of criminality. In a separate development, Citigroup warned investors that Trinity Mirror, owner of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, could face serious hacking allegations. Citigroup cut its target price for shares in the company. Trinity Mirror strongly denied any wrongdoing by staff. It has asked its senior journalists for written undertakings that they had no knowledge of phone hacking or corrupt payments to police.

Can James Murdoch argue himself out of this corner? After the release of shocking new phone-hacking documents, the News Corporation chairman is surely too compromised to stay By Brian Cathcart guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 August 2011 15.00 BST Tom Watson MP said the new material was devastating and he was not exaggerating. Difficult though it may be to believe, documents released by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee are at least as damaging to News International management as the revelation last month that Milly Dowler's voicemail had been hacked. That news prompted disgrace and resignations: now we are looking at possible criminal charges at senior levels. Assuming that these documents hold up to scrutiny, a whole raft of executives – not journalists or editors, but well above that level – are surely likely to be questioned by police investigating the possibility of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Arrests in some cases must be likely. James Murdoch, virtually the last man standing at News International, may not be facing jail, but he will struggle to argue his way out of this corner. When he appeared before MPs beside his father he chose a strategy of bluster and blaming others. Predictably, those others have bitten back and as a result James must be finished as a company executive in the UK. It is very difficult to believe that a man so compromised in this country could ever hold a global role at News Corporation either. Rarely can the old line about the cover-up being worse than the original crime have been so spectacularly borne out. And rarely can a parliamentary select committee have, by patient digging, unearthed such a bundle of sensations. Most damaging of all is the implication that Clive Goodman, the royal reporter jailed for hacking in 2007, was encouraged or induced by News International executives to withhold the full truth about the extent of hacking from police and the courts. The Goodman letter makes clear that he knew in 2007 what we all now know – that hacking was widespread at the paper. Second to that in importance is the evidence suggesting Goodman was paid nearly a quarter of a million pounds by the company after his release from jail – a far higher sum than the company previously claimed, and indeed a sum so high that to many eyes it suggests that News International bought the silence of employees. As for James Murdoch, he is haunted now by 10 words he uttered to MPs, which he will now have to defend: "No, I was not aware of that at the time." He was telling Watson he was unaware of the famous "for Neville" email at the time he authorised a half-million-plus payment to Gordon Taylor in 2008 to withdraw his legal case about hacking and remain silent. That email offered – on any normal reading – firm evidence that Goodman had not been the only News of the World reporter involved in illegal hacking. There were two people in the room with James Murdoch that day in 2008. Both have now asserted firmly that not only was he aware of the email, but it was shown to him there and then. They are Tom Crone, former legal chief of News Group Newspapers, and Colin Myler, former News of the World editor. At the same time, James's efforts to shift responsibility to the lawyers Harbottle & Lewis also seems to have backfired. Only a fool picks a fight with a lawyer, and sure enough they have come back and slated his evidence. James has been asked back to the media committee to clarify his evidence. That will be a humiliation so dreadful that he will be looking for any way he can to avoid it. Meanwhile a number of people accustomed to executive limos and seven-figure salaries are beginning to wonder what it might be like in jail.

Phone hacking: News of the World reporter's letter reveals cover-up Disgraced royal correspondent Clive Goodman's letter says phone hacking was 'widely discussed' at NoW meetings Read Clive Goodman's letter to News International http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2011/aug/16/clive-goodman-letter-phone-hacking By Nick Davies guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 August 2011 12.34 BST Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson all face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman. In the letter, which was written four years ago but published only on Tuesday, Goodman claims that phone hacking was "widely discussed" at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with "the full knowledge and support" of other senior journalists, whom he named. The claims are acutely troubling for the prime minister, David Cameron, who hired Coulson as his media adviser on the basis that he knew nothing about phone hacking. And they confront Rupert and James Murdoch with the humiliating prospect of being recalled to parliament to justify the evidence which they gave last month on the aftermath of Goodman's allegations. In a separate letter, one of the Murdochs' own law firms claim that parts of that evidence were variously "hard to credit", "self-serving" and "inaccurate and misleading". Goodman's claims also raise serious questions about Rupert Murdoch's close friend and adviser, Les Hinton, who was sent a copy of the letter but failed to pass it to police and who then led a cast of senior Murdoch personnel in telling parliament that they believed Coulson knew nothing about the interception of the voicemail of public figures and that Goodman was the only journalist involved. The letters from Goodman and from the London law firm Harbottle & Lewis are among a cache of paperwork published by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. One committee member, the Labour MP Tom Watson, said Goodman's letter was "absolutely devastating". He said: "Clive Goodman's letter is the most significant piece of evidence that has been revealed so far. It completely removes News International's defence. This is one of the largest cover-ups I have seen in my lifetime." Goodman's letter is dated 2 March 2007, soon after he was released from a four-month prison sentence. It is addressed to News International's director of human resources, Daniel Cloke, and registers his appeal against the decision of Hinton, the company's then chairman, to sack him for gross misconduct after he admitted intercepting the voicemail of three members of the royal household. Goodman lists five grounds for his appeal. He argues that the decision is perverse because he acted "with the full knowledge and support" of named senior journalists and that payments for the private investigator who assisted him, Glenn Mulcaire, were arranged by another senior journalist. The names of the journalists have been redacted from the published letter at the request of Scotland Yard, who are investigating the affair. Goodman then claims that other members of staff at the News of the World were also hacking phones. Crucially, he adds: "This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor." He reveals that the paper continued to consult him on stories even though they knew he was going to plead guilty to phone hacking and that the paper's then lawyer, Tom Crone, knew all the details of the case against him. In a particularly embarrassing allegation, he adds: "Tom Crone and the editor promised on many occasions that I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in my mitigation plea. I did not, and I expect the paper to honour its promise to me." In the event, Goodman lost his appeal. But the claim that the paper induced him to mislead the court is one that may cause further problems for News International. Two versions of his letter were provided to the committee. One which was supplied by Harbottle & Lewis has been redacted to remove the names of journalists, at the request of police. The other, which was supplied by News International, has been redacted to remove not only the names but also all references to hacking being discussed in Coulson's editorial meetings and to Coulson's offer to keep Goodman on staff if he agreed not to implicate the paper. The company also faces a new claim that it misled parliament. In earlier evidence to the select committee, in answer to questions about whether it had bought Goodman's silence, it had said he was paid off with a period of notice plus compensation of no more than £60,000. The new paperwork, however, reveals that Goodman was paid a full year's salary, worth £90,502.08, plus a further £140,000 in compensation as well as £13,000 to cover his lawyer's bill. Watson said: "It's hush money. I think they tried to buy his silence." Murdoch's executives have always denied this. When Goodman's letter reached News International four years ago, it set off a chain reaction which now threatens embarrassment for Rupert and James Murdoch personally. The company resisted Goodman's appeal, and he requested disclosure of emails sent to and from six named senior journalists on the paper. The company collected 2,500 emails and sent them to Harbottle & Lewis and asked the law firm to examine them. Harbottle & Lewis then produced a letter, which has previously been published by the select committee in a non-redacted form: "I can confirm that we did not find anything in those emails which appeared to us to be reasonable evidence that Clive Goodman's illegal actions were known about and supported by both or either of Andy Coulson, the editor, and Neil Wallis, the deputy editor, and/or that Ian Edmondson, the news editor, and others were carrying out similar illegal procedures." In their evidence to the select committee last month, the Murdochs presented this letter as evidence that the company had been given a clean bill of health. However, the Metropolitan police have since said that the emails contained evidence of "alleged payments by corrupt journalists to corrupt police officers". And the former director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, who examined a small sample of the emails, said they contained evidence of indirect hacking, breaches of national security and serious crime. In a lengthy reply, Harbottle & Lewis say it was never asked to investigate whether crimes generally had been committed at the News of the World but had been instructed only to say whether the emails contained evidence that Goodman had hacked phones with "the full knowledge and support" of the named senior journalists. The law firm reveals that the letter was the result of a detailed negotiation with News International's senior lawyer, Jon Chapman, and it refused to include a line which he suggested, that, having seen a copy of Goodman's letter of 2 March: "We did not find anything that we consider to be directly relevant to the grounds of appeal put forward by him." In a lengthy criticism of the Murdochs' evidence to the select committee last month, Harbottle & Lewis says it finds it "hard to credit" James Murdoch's repeated claim that News International "rested on" its letter as part of their grounds for believing that Goodman was a "rogue reporter". It says News International's view of the law firm's role is "self-serving" and that Rupert Murdoch's claim that it was hired "to find out what the hell was going on" was "inaccurate and misleading", although it adds that he may have been confused or misinformed about its role. Harbottle & Lewis writes: "There was absolutely no question of the firm being asked to provide News International with a clean bill of health which it could deploy years later in wholly different contexts for wholly different purposes … The firm was not being asked to provide some sort of 'good conduct certificate' which News International could show to parliament … Nor was it being given a general retainer, as Mr Rupert Murdoch asserted it was, 'to find out what the hell was going on'." The law firm's challenge to the Murdochs' evidence follows an earlier claim made jointly by the paper's former editor and former lawyer that a different element of James Murdoch's evidence to the committee was "mistaken". He had told the committee that he had paid more than £1m to settle a legal action brought by Gordon Taylor of the Professional Footballers Association without knowing that Taylor's lawyers had obtained an email from a junior reporter to the paper's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, containing 35 transcripts of voicemail messages. Crone and the former editor, Colin Myler, last month challenged this. In letters published by the committee, the former News of the World lawyer repeats his position. He says this email was "the sole reason" for settling Taylor's case. He says he took it with him to a meeting with James Murdoch in June 2008 when he explained the need to settle: "I have no doubt that I informed Mr Murdoch of its existence, of what it was and where it came from." Myler, in a separate letter also published on Tuesday, endorses Crone's account. Their evidence raises questions about James Murdoch's failure to tell the police or his shareholders about the evidence of crime contained in the email. Watson said that both Murdochs should be recalled to the committee to explain their evidence. Hinton, who resigned last month, may join them. Four days after Goodman sent his letter, Hinton gave evidence to the select committee in which he made no reference to any of the allegations contained in the letter, but told MPs: "I believe absolutely that Andy [Coulson] did not have knowledge of what was going on". He added that he had carried out a full, rigorous internal inquiry and that he believed Goodman was the only person involved. Commenting on the evidence from the select committee, a News International spokesperson said: "News Corporation's board has set up a management and standards committee, chaired by independent chairman Lord Grabiner, which is co-operating fully with the Metropolitan police and is facilitating their investigation into illegal voicemail interception at the News of the World and related issues. "We recognise the seriousness of materials disclosed to the police and parliament and are committed to working in a constructive and open way with all the relevant authorities."

UK banks fund deadly cluster-bomb industry The Independent By Jerome Taylor Tuesday, 16 August 2011 British high-street banks, including two institutions that were bailed out by taxpayers, are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in companies that manufacture cluster bombs despite a growing global ban outlawing the production and trade of the weapons. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HSBC have all provided funding to the makers of cluster bombs, even as international opinion turns against a weapons system that is inherently indiscriminate and routinely maims or kills civilians. One year ago this month, Britain became an active participant in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a global treaty that bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs. To date, 108 countries have signed the treaty, which also forbids parties from assisting in the production of cluster weapons. Yet there has been no attempt by the Coalition Government to rein in banks and investment funds that continue to finance companies known to manufacture the weapons. Using a loophole in the legislation, financial institutions can continue to back cluster-arms manufacturers as long as they don't invest in the bombs directly. The loophole has prompted Amnesty International to launch a national campaign calling on the Government to legislate against any indirect investment in cluster weapons. An investigation by Dutch arms experts into how financial institutions continue to invest in the industry has revealed that the virtually state-owned RBS is the UK's worst offender. Saved by the public purse after its collapse during the credit crisis, taxpayers now own 83 per cent of the bank. But that has not stopped it from investing hundreds of millions of pounds in the arms trade. In October 2010, RBS was part of a banking syndicate that provided the American arms manufacturer Alliant Techsystems with a $1bn (£600m) five-year credit facility, with RBS itself loaning $80m. It has also underwritten $110.1m in bonds to Alliant Techsystems and Lockheed Martin. The partially state-owned Lloyds, which was bailed out by the taxpayer with an injection of £20bn of state funds, has also invested in Lockheed Martin, the US arms giant that has a long track record of making cluster munitions. In November 2009, Lloyds contributed $62.5m as part of a 12-bank syndicate when Lockheed issued bonds for a total of $1.5bn. Other British high street banks have also played a role in investing in arms companies known to make cluster weapons. In April 2009, Barclays and HSBC were involved in a major financing deal with Textron, a US arms manufacturer that builds a "sensor fused weapon" the world's most powerful cluster bomb. Alliant Techsystems makes the weapon's rocket motor. Textron issued $757.4m worth of bonds and shares with the financial aid of a 10-bank syndicate. HSBC and Barclays combined underwrote $44.6m worth of loans. Barclays then went on to invest a further $75m in a separate Textron bond deal five months later. The report on the banks, a joint piece of research by the Dutch and Belgium NGOs IKV Pax Christi and Netwerk Vlaaneren, reveals that since May 2008, 166 financial institutions across the world have invested an estimated $39bn in the eight largest cluster-munitions manufacturers. None of these investments is illegal. But they will lead to further concerns about the moral behaviour of the banking industry at a time of public anger over its role in the credit crisis and bankers' bonuses. The majority of investors in cluster munitions are from countries such as China, Russia and the US, which have refused to sign up to the global ban. Those countries are also the world's largest producers of sub-munitions. But financial investment has also come from banks within nine countries that have signed up to the treaty. Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands have yet to pass legislation that specifically forbids indirect investment in cluster-bomb producers. Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and New Zealand are the only countries that have banned banks from directly or indirectly financing cluster bombs. Within the financial industry there are signs that some banks are beginning to distance themselves from cluster-bomb makers. Since the publication of the Pax Christi report, HSBC said it has brought in a new investment policy that forbids it from investing in companies that make such weapons. The bank would not confirm whether that means it has ended its relationship with Textron. But Mark Hemingway, the head of media relations at HSBC, told The Independent: "We have exited relationships with clients if the requirements of our policy are not being met." A spokeswoman for Barclays said the company's investment policy "explicitly prohibits financing trade in landmines, cluster bombs or any equipment designed to be used as an instrument of torture". Barclays would not confirm whether it would no longer invest in Textron but a source said: "The relationship with Textron has been discussed at the highest levels and there's very much the feeling that we'll be exiting that relationship soon. There hasn't been any new lending since 2010 and there won't be in the future." In contrast, Lloyds and RBS resolutely defended their investments. A spokesman for Lloyds said: "Lloyds does not knowingly finance or otherwise support the manufacture of any weaponry that breaches UK, US, EU or UN legislation, or weapons which have been outlawed by International Treaty. These include, amongst others, bans on anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions." RBS said it had been assured by arms companies that they don't make cluster bombs. "We do not invest in cluster munitions. We have received assurances from our defence-sector clients that that they are not in breach of the Convention on Cluster Munitions," a spokesperson said. But Oliver Sprague, an arms expert at Amnesty, said: "High street banks like Royal Bank of Scotland are making a mockery of UK law by shamefully investing in companies that make weapons the UK Government and 108 other countries have clearly and quite rightly banned. Given the UK Government's clear decision to ban cluster munitions, no UK financial institutions should be assisting their production." Laura Cheeseman, who is the director of the Cluster Munition Coalition, which spearheaded the lobbying drive for the ban on cluster weapons, said: "The UK and other countries that have already signed the ban treaty should pass strong national legislation to make sure they are not contributing to the production of weapons that they have outlawed." Leading article: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-an-immoral-loophole-2338232.html

http://www.minormusings.com/Rove.html Thoroughly reseached article by Forum member, Linda Minor.

FBI widens its US inquiry into News Corp beyond 9/11 hacking The Independent By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter Monday, 15 August 2011 The American authorities have widened their investigation into Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to look into allegations of wrongdoing at the company beyond the claim that News of the World journalists attempted to hack the phones of 9/11 victims. It was reported this weekend that FBI investigators, who are checking damaging claims that reporters at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid asked a New York-based private detective to access the voicemails of those killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks, have so far found no evidence that attempts were made to eavesdrop on the messages. The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp, said US agencies were now examining whether there were further claims of misconduct at the company's American subsidiaries that merit further investigation. The move comes as MPs in Westminster prepare to consider tomorrow the release of new documents related to hacking, which one former minister described as "dynamite". The widened US inquiry, said to be at "an early stage", will look at past claims against News Corp companies, including a lawsuit brought by Floorgraphics, an advertising company, which alleged computer hacking on the part of its Murdoch-owned competitor. A New Jersey senator wrote to the US Attorney General's office last month asking for an inquiry into News Corp's behaviour in the US, citing the case of Floorgraphics, whose founders claimed their Murdoch-owned rival, News America, threatened to destroy their company when they rejected a takeover bid. A jury was told that 11 breaches of Floorgraphics' password-protected website in 2004 were traced back to an address registered to a News America office and that sensitive information could have been accessed. News Corp, which ended the lawsuit after agreeing to buy Floorgraphics for $29.5m (£18m), denied any claim that it threatened the company and said it condemned the hacking, suggesting it may have been carried out without its knowledge by an employee. News Corp is now facing questions about its US operations, including whether American corruption laws were broken if it is proven that NOTW journalists made payments to British police officers. The developments came ahead of a potentially difficult week for Mr Murdoch's son, James, as the Commons' media select committee meets tomorrow to discuss further submissions arising from his testimony last month. James Murdoch last week supplied written answers to questions from MPs after two former NOTW executives – Colin Myler and Tom Crone – said Mr Murdoch had been "mistaken" in his testimony relating to an out-of-court settlement he approved with the Professional Footballers' Association boss Gordon Taylor.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110812-tx-author-says-the-mob-did-john-f-kennedy-in

U.S. expands probe of News Corp: Wall St. Journal By Bob Burgdorfer | Reuters August 13, 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Authorities are investigating if Britain's News Corp had a broader pattern of misconduct in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Saturday. The latest investigation concerns past allegations of misconduct, including the company's supermarket-coupon and advertising unit that settled a lawsuit from a competitor alleging computer hacking, the newspaper said. News Corp owns the Wall Street Journal. U.S. and British investigators have not yet found evidence in phone-hacking investigations that victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States were targeted, the Wall Street Journal said. Allegations of such hacking stemmed from an article in Britain's Daily Mirror. The FBI said on July 14 that it was examining allegations that News Corp may have tried to hack into phone records of September 11 victims. News Corp already is under investigation by U.S. prosecutors for phone-hacking allegations that surfaced last month and linked to its now closed News of the World tabloid, the paper said. In Britain, 12 former staffers have been arrested in that case. The coupon case, in which a company alleged its computers were hacked, is more than five years old. While that means the statute of limitations could bar prosecution, U.S. authorities are trying to find more recent wrongdoings, which would allow pursuit of older matters, unnamed sources told the newspaper.

News of the World's alleged Milly Dowler leaks investigated by IPCC Police watchdog follows up voluntary referral from force after claims Surrey policeman passed case details to paper By James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 August 2011 22.03 BST The police watchdog is investigating an allegation that a Surrey officer gave information about the Milly Dowler murder investigation to the News of the World. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was investigating the claim following a voluntary referral from the force. "An IPCC deputy senior investigator has been over at Surrey police this morning to get more information about the case and will be writing to the Dowler family, via their solicitors at their request, this afternoon and offering to meet to give them more detail," the commission said. "Until then, it would not be appropriate for us to make any further detail public." The Guardian understands that the allegations relate to the early stages of the investigation into Milly Dowler's disappearance. It is thought a Surrey police officer met a female journalist from the News of the World at a social event in London and told her details about the leads that officers working on the case were following. It is not thought that he was paid for the information. Sources claimed the officer in question was publicly admonished in front of colleagues when the paper subsequently published the information in a story, taken off the case, and then disciplined. The Dowler family's solicitor, Mark Lewis, said he had not been told how long the IPCC investigation will take. "They need to look at their own information about who the officer was, what he said and what he gave out," he told the BBC News channel, referring to the information passed voluntarily to the commission by Surrey police. The revelation last month that a mobile phone belonging to the teenager was accessed by the News of the World triggered a wave of public revulsion that led directly to the closure of the 168-year-old paper. The Dowler family received a personal apology from Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the paper's owner News Corp. They also met with the prime minister. Lewis said the family were upset to learn a policeman may have passed information to the paper during the original 2002 investigation. He said Milly's parents had already endured the trial of Levi Bellfield, who was convicted this year of murdering Milly, during which they were cross-examined aggressively by Bellfield's lawyer. That was followed almost immediately by allegations that Milly's voicemail messages were listened to by the paper and then deleted in order to create room for more messages to be left

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-nixon-shock-08042011.html

I do this because this is a Big Story, a mystery that is unfolding like layers being peeled on an onion. There is something Very Important at the center of it all that has not been brought out to date. It rivals Nixon's missing 18 1/2 tape minutes in its significance. I have no idea what it is, but possess a gut feeling that Rupert Murdoch will do anything to keep it from being revealed, possibly even letting his son face prison time if the circumstances dictate it.

Simon Hughes to sue over News of the World phone hacking News International faces civil action by Lib Dem MP whose voicemail messages Glenn Mulcaire admitted intercepting in earlier criminal case By James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 August 2011 18.14 BST The Liberal Democrat MP, Simon Hughes, is to sue News International over phone hacking at the News of the World, he confirmed on Thursday. Hughes told the Evening Standard: "It is important now that all those who were clearly the subject of criminal activity help to get to the bottom of what happened during this dark period in British journalism." Hughes's decision to take legal action against Rupert Murdoch's Sunday tabloid, which was closed last month, is significant because the private investigator employed by the paper has already been convicted of targeting his mobile phone. Glenn Mulcaire pleaded guilty to hacking into Hughes's messages, along with those left on mobiles belonging to seven other people, in 2006. That means Mulcaire will be unable to resist complying with any court order Hughes obtains that requires the former investigator to say who asked him to intercept Hughes's messages. In other cases currently going through the civil courts, Mulcaire's legal team has successfully appealed against such orders by arguing that he would be incriminating himself if he were to comply with them by admitting his guilt. Mulcaire will not be able to mount the same argument when Hughes takes legal action, against News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers, because he pleaded guilty to hacking his phone five years ago. That could lead to more News of the World journalists being named. Three of the original eight victims named in the 2006 legal action have already sued the paper's owner. Publicist Max Clifford received a £1m payout and Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, received a secret £700,000 sum in 2008 in a deal approved by James Murdoch. Football agent Sky Andrew is also pursuing legal action. He is one of the victims named in a court case scheduled to be heard early next year. It was Andrew's court action that forced Mulcaire to name the News of the World's former assistant editor (news) Ian Edmondson as the person who ordered him to hack into Andrew's phone. That claim undermined the paper's defence that hacking was the work of a "rogue reporter". The paper was closed by James Murdoch last month after publishing for 168 years. On Wednesday night, his father Rupert Murdoch conceded during a press call with journalists and media analysts for News International parent company News Corporation's annual results that the company had to "get to the bottom of" what happened at the title. "Were there a dozen guilty people or two dozen?" the News Corp chairman and chief executive said. Greg Miskiw, who on Thursday became the 12th person arrested by police officers investigating alleged phone hacking by the News of the World as part of the Metropolitan police's Operation Weeting, has been released on bail. Miskiw held a senior editorial role at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid until 2005, when he joined a news agency in Manchester before moving to Florida. He told reporters last month that he was returning to the UK to meet police officers.

Reuters August 10, 2011 Rupert Murdoch acknowledged publicly for the first time that his son James is not the preferred choice to succeed him as News Corp. CEO, at least in the near-term. In the clearest indication yet that the phone hacking scandal enveloping News Corp's U.K. operations has damaged the succession ambitions of James Murdoch, his father endorsed top lieutenant Chase Carey as a future CEO. But Murdoch, 80, also said he and Carey had "full confidence" in James Murdoch, who until last month was seen as Rupert Murdoch's clear successor. "Chase is my partner and if anything happened to me I'm sure he'll get it immediately -- if I went under a bus. But Chase and I have full confidence in James," said Murdoch on a conference call with Wall Street analysts. The younger Murdoch has been under pressure since the phone hacking scandal that erupted last month at News Corp's UK operations, forcing the closure of its News of the World tabloid and the arrest of 12 ex-staffers. News Corp's UK business ultimately reported to James. News Corp owns a stable of properties including the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Media experts and analysts have wondered for several years who would replace Murdoch once he stepped down, with speculation centering on his children as well as executives outside the family. Murdoch said the media company's board wants him to remain CEO. "The board and I believe I should continue in my current role as chairman and CEO, but make no mistake, Chase Carey and I run this company as a team, and the strength of that partnership is reflected in our improved results," Murdoch said. "I'm personally determined to put things right when it comes to the News of the World." Murdoch said that he was disappointed that the company had to drop its bid for full control of UK satellite TV company BSkyB after the phone hacking scandal eroded News Corp's chances of getting approval for the deal. News Corp's profit rose, at least by one measure. The company, which owns broadcaster Fox and newspapers including the Wall Street Journal reported a profit from continuing operations of $982 million, up from $902 million a year ago. Its net income fell to $683 million, or 26 cents a share, down from $875 million, or 33 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 11 percent to $8.96 billion, helped by advertising sales and fees at Fox TV and its cable networks. Operating income at its cable network unit rose 12 percent, helped by a 23 percent rise in advertising revenue at its domestic channels and a 30 percent rise in affiliate fees at its international cable channels. Advertising at its Fox broadcast business also rose by 7 percent. Movie profits rose 53 percent thanks to animation hit "Rio" and home entertainment sales of "Black Swan" and "The Chronicles of Narnia." "They were pretty good numbers," said Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan. Murdoch said the company would consider expanding its share buyback if the stock continues to be undervalued. (Reporting by Yinka Adegoke. Editing by Robert MacMillan and Janet Guttsman)

Former NOTW man arrested after flying back from America The Independent By Ian Burrell, Media Editor Thursday, 11 August 2011 Police investigating the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World have made their 12th arrest. The paper's former news editor Greg Miskiw, 61, was held after reporting by appointment at a London police station yesterday. The news came as Time magazine revealed that Preet Bharara, who is heading the US investigation into News Corp, was best man at the wedding of Viet Dinh, an independent board member of the company. Dinh is conducting News Corp's internal investigation into phone hacking. In an interview with Time in 2007, Dinh described Bharara as "my best friend". This week his spokesman told the magazine that the two men had not discussed hacking. In a separate development yesterday, Scotland Yard confirmed that the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating whether Dick Fedorcio, the Metropolitan Police director of public affairs, committed an act of gross misconduct in his handling of the hacking affair. Fedorcio denies impropriety and has held onto his post while more senior figures at the Yard have resigned. Miskiw, a veteran British tabloid journalist, is understood to have been held on suspicion of unlawful interception of communications and conspiring to intercept communications. Until recently, he had been living in Florida. Miskiw's name appears on a contract that the NOTW had with the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire (identified by the pseudonym "Paul Williams"). Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 for the hacking of phones belonging to members of the royal household. Shortly after Mulcaire and the NOTW's royal editor Clive Goodman were jailed, Miskiw moved to Manchester to take over the paper's northern office. He later left the paper and set up a Manchester news agency. Last month he stood outside his Florida apartment to read out a statement in which he said that he would be returning to the UK "voluntarily". He added that his solicitor had been in contact with the police. During his time at the NOTW, Miskiw made the infamous comment "That's what we do – we destroy people's lives." He worked for the newspaper's editors Rebekah Wade and Andy Coulson, both of whom have lost their jobs over phone hacking. James Murdoch, who has faced calls for his own resignation over the handling of the hacking affair, is due to give written details to MPs today to convince them he did not mislead a parliamentary committee in evidence he provided last month. The former NOTW editor Colin Myler and the paper's legal manager, Tom Crone, have jointly claimed that evidence given by Mr Murdoch to the select committee was "mistaken". Both are expected to support assertion in letters to the committee before today's evidence deadline. Jon Chapman, former head of legal affairs of News International, which published the NOTW, is also expected to submit evidence to MPs today after his role was commented on at the hearing. Murdoch: I won't quit Rupert Murdoch told his shareholders last night that he would not bow to demands for his retirement, and insisted that the hacking scandal at the News of the World was having no financial impact on the rest of his media empire. None the less, he did highlight the role of his deputy, Chase Carey, in a nod to Wall Street's concerns that he may be too old or too out of touch to carry on as both chairman and chief executive of News Corporation. "Make no mistake, Chase Carey and I run this company as a team," Mr Murdoch said, on a conference call to discuss News Corp's latest figures. Mr Murdoch's empire includes satellite broadcasting in Asia and Europe, US television networks, the publisher Harper Collins and the movie studio Twentieth Century Fox. Even with the closure of the News of the World, the company still expects more than 13 per cent profit growth over the next year. In the 12 months to the end of June, News Corp profits jumped to $2.74bn from $2.54bn last time. Stephen Foley

Phone-hacking enquiry: Dick Fedorcio put on leave Metropolitan police's director of public affairs put on extended leave until police hacking enquiry is over By James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 August 2011 19.27 BST Dick Fedorcio, the Met's director of public affairs and internal communication, has been put on extended leave until Scotland Yard's investigation into phone hacking is over. He has been in the post for eleven years, but he was criticised last month for hiring Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor at the News of the World, as a consultant. Wallis has been working in a PR capacity since leaving the paper in 2009. He was arrested as part of the Operation Weeting inquiry in July. Fedorcio gave Wallis a two-day a month contract to assist the Met's press office in October 2009. Fedorcio told the Home Affairs select committee that he would not have hired Wallis had he known he was to be arrested. He also said he had not asked Wallis about phone-hacking at the paper before hiring him. The close ties between News International, which owned the title until it was shut down in July, and the Met, have prompted concerns about the intimacy of the relationship between the two organisations. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is currently investigating his dealings with Wallis. Scotland Yard sources have said the hacking investigation is likely to run into next year.

Phone hacking James Murdoch expected to provide evidence he did not mislead MPs Former News of the World editor and lawyer claim that statement to select committee on phone hacking was 'mistaken' By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 August 2011 17.28 BST James Murdoch is expected to explain within the next 24 hours why he did not mislead a parliamentary select committee investigating phone hacking at the News of the World. He has until Thursday to reply to a list of detailed questions asked by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, following allegations by the former editor and former head of legal affairs of the now defunct News International tabloid that one of his statements was "mistaken". The former News of the World editor, Colin Myler, and the paper's ex lawyer, Tom Crone, who alleged that Murdoch had misled the committee, will also be sending letters to MPs ahead of tomorrow's deadline for supplementary evidence. The three letters, along with a fourth letter from the former overall head of legal affairs at News International, Jon Chapman, are expected to reopen the scandal over just who knew how widespread phone hacking was at the News of the World. "These letters are going to be dynamite," said one source with knowledge of proceedings. The committee considers them so important that they are returning from their holidays to have a private meeting to discuss the new evidence on Tuesday. It is believed Murdoch has been asked a series of forensic questions in relation to payments to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator formerly employed by the News of the World to hack voicemail messages. The committee want to know why Myler and Crone, who lost their jobs when the paper closed last month, publicly challenged Murdoch's claim at the committee hearing that he knew nothing of an internal email providing evidence that more than one "rogue reporter" was involved phone-hacking . Murdoch has said he "stands by his testimony to the select committee" and Thursday's letter is expected to provide evidence to back this claim up. Myler and Crone are, in effect, jointly accusing Murdoch of being part of the cover-up, one in which the company's executives twisted and turned to conceal the truth about phone hacking and blame it on a single "rogue reporter". Murdoch's crucial claim to the committee was that although in 2008 he had personally agreed to a payout of £700,000 to hacking victim Gordon Taylor, he had done so in ignorance of the true facts. He said Crone and Myler had told him the payout was legally necessary. Murdoch, sitting alongside his father Rupert, claimed that Crone and Myler had concealed from him the crucial piece of evidence in the case: that an email had come to light with a voicemail hacking transcript, marked "for Neville", allegedly a reference to Neville Thurlbeck, the News of the World's chief reporter. The existence of this email, had it been made public at the time, would have exploded the "rogue reporter" defence and begun to implicate the rest of the NoW newsroom. John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture sport and media select committee, said after Myler and Crone issued their statement in July: "We as a committee regarded the 'for Neville' email as one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the whole inquiry. We will be asking James Murdoch to respond and ask him to clarify."

Phone hacking: 61-year-old man arrested Man arrested by Scotland Yard reported to be former News of the World newsdesk executive Greg Miskiw By Jason Deans guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 August 2011 15.13 BST The Metropolitan police on Wednesday arrested a 61-year-old man, reported to be former News of the World newsdesk executive Greg Miskiw, as part of its investigation into phone hacking at the paper. Officers from Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's investigation into phone hacking at the now-defunct News International tabloid, made the arrest by appointment at a London police station at about midday. The man arrested is Miskiw, according to Sky News. The man was arrested on suspicion of unlawful interception of communications and conspiring to intercept communications, both contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

August 9, 2011, 11:45 am The New York Times News Corp.’s Independent Directors Have Strong Ties to Murdoch By JEREMY W. PETERS When the News Corporation board convenes on the 20th Century Fox Studios lot Tuesday for its first meeting since a phone hacking scandal overseas plunged the company into turmoil, the participants will include many people with deep and personal ties to Rupert Murdoch. One is a former Goldman Sachs president who helped News Corporation broker mega deals. Another is godfather to one of Mr. Murdoch’s grandchildren. Another ran Mr. Murdoch’s Australian subsidiary, News Limited. And those are just some of the News Corporation’s independent directors, designated as such because they meet criteria intended to ensure that companies maintain a layer of objective oversight. News Corporation considers nine of its 16 directors independent. Many owe their careers to Mr. Murdoch. Others made millions of dollars making him richer. Those include: Roderick Eddington, the former chief executive of British Airways, who became deputy chairman of Mr. Murdoch’s Australian subsidiary, News Ltd., in 1997, a year after he was chosen to run Ansett Australia, the airline in which News Corporation owned a 50-percent stake. Natalie Bancroft, the opera singer whose family agreed to sell Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal to Mr. Murdoch in 2007, and who made a sizeable fortune of her own from News Corporation’s $5 billion purchase. Ken Cowley, who was chief executive and chairman of News Limited for nearly 20 years in the 1980s and 1990s. Viet Dinh, a former senior official in George W. Bush’s Justice Department and the principal author of the Patriot Act. Mr. Dinh is also godfather to a son of Lachlan Murdoch, the oldest of Mr. Murdoch’s children. He is ultimately responsible for the independent internal investigation going on into the phone hacking scandal at News Corporation’s British subsidiary, News International. Andrew Knight, who was executive chairman of News International from 1990 to 1994. John L. Thornton, the former Goldman Sachs president, who advised News Corporation in a number of major deals, including its $1 billion purchase of Star TV, the Asian satellite service. The arrangement brought him and Goldman Sachs millions in fees. News Corporation’s board is hardly the only one in corporate America that is stacked with independent directors who have close relationships with the companies that shareholders have elected them to serve. But corporate governance experts said that the long history between News Corporation and many of its independent directors is a glaring example of how chumminess in the boardroom can allow and even contribute to mismanagement. “I keep watching this and thinking that they don’t realize we can see them,” said Lucy P. Marcus, chief executive of Marcus Venture Consulting who writes about corporate governance issues for the Harvard Business Review blog network. “The reason we have corporate governance is not because it’s a nice thing to do. It’s because if you actually have a robust board, it can be beneficial. I don’t think News Corp. would be in the same trouble that they are in now if they had an independent board.” In order for an overhaul on the News Corporation board or any other corporate board, the rules governing who is eligible to serve as a director would need to change. And right now News Corporation is in full compliance of the rules set by the Nasdaq, the exchange on which its stock is traded, and federal law. Nasdaq’s rules state broadly that independent directors cannot have a relationship that “would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.” Specifically, the Nasdaq excludes anyone who was employed the company in the past three years. The rules do allow, however, for former employees collecting retirement benefits to serve as independent directors. Some News Corporation shareholders have already started to press the issue. Wespath Investment Management, a division of the board of pension and health benefits for the United Methodist Church and owner of about 1.1 million News Corporation Class A shares, wrote to the board objecting to, among other things, the board’s seeming lack of independence. “As shareholders interested in preserving the long-term value of the company, it is important that the board of directors act quickly to improve its governance standards,” the letter said.

I think one reason that there are riots now in London, which may spread to other U.K. cities, is that there is growing public contempt for law and order because Scotland Yard has been revealed to have engaged in criminal corruption pursuant to its intimate relationship with the Murdoch criminal empire. To Scotland Yard should be added public figures at the highest levels of government who were willing accessories to Murdoch's criminal schemes. A legacy of Watergate, which saw the U.S. President engaged in a ciminal coverup, is that the public has much less respect for law and order. Criminal activity is rampant at all levels of American society these days. Observance of a code of ethical behavior is virtually non-existent. ------------------------------------- From James Hilton’s 1933 novel, “Lost Horizons”, courtesy of recent review by Gary North: The book was written during the darkest phase of the Great Depression. One character in the novel confronts an American, whose company went bust. The police had been after him. The book never says that he was crooked. He may have been. He defends himself. "Which is a darned difficult thing to do when the whole game's going to pieces. Besides, there isn't a soul in the world who knows what the rules are. All the professors of Harvard and Yale couldn't tell you 'em." Mallinson replied rather scornfully: "I'm referring to a few quite simple rules of everyday conduct." "Then I guess your everyday conduct doesn't include managing trust companies."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2011/aug/09/michael-wolff-rupert-murdoch-video