News International Execs & Lawyers Grilled - NOTW Phone Hacking *NEW*

News International Execs & Lawyers Grilled

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News Corp. executive James Murdoch must have known that illegal phone hacking at the News of the World newspaper was not confined to the single journalist who was imprisoned for it, a former lawyer for the newspaper testified Tuesday.

Tom Crone, who was legal manager of the paper, said Murdoch would only have given Crone authority to settle a lawsuit against News of the World if he had understood that there had been more illegal eavesdropping.

Crone was one of four former executives grilled by British lawmakers as they try to determine whether Murdoch misled them about the scale of illegal eavesdropping at News of the World.

Murdoch, the son of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, has repeatedly told lawmakers that an investigation showed no evidence of widespread phone hacking at News of the World. And he stood by his testimony in a statement after the parliamentary hearing Tuesday.

James Murdoch called the testimony of Crone and Colin Myler, the former editor of the paper, "unclear and contradictory," and he said he had given parliament "an accurate account of events."

The scandal around News of the World, which also involves accusations of bribing police, has forced two top police officers to resign and put Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure for hiring a former News of the World editor to be his spokesman.

James Murdoch ordered the paper closed in July amid public fury at the accusation that the voicemail of schoolgirl Milly Dowler was hacked when she vanished in 2002. She was later found dead.

Crone and Myler's testimony came on the same day that a government-backed independent inquiry into the affair held its first hearing.

The Leveson Inquiry opened by taking applications from people and organizations that wanted to participate, including News International, the British publishing arm of News Corp.

The Metropolitan Police, several newspaper groups and more than a dozen suspected victims of phone hacking also applied to be considered "core participants."

Aside from Crone and Myler, Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee quizzed two other former News International employees Tuesday -- former top human resources officer Daniel Cloke and ex-legal affairs director Jonathan Chapman.

Chapman was pressed about who had approved a large payment to Clive Goodman, the paper's royal correspondent who was jailed and fired over phone hacking, after he was dismissed from News of the World.

Grilled by Conservative member of Parliament Philip Davies, Chapman named Les Hinton, one of Rupert Murdoch's longest-serving employees. Hinton resigned this summer.

Police opened a new investigation in January into phone hacking -- illegally accessing a person's voice mail -- and police bribery.

More than a dozen people have been arrested. All are currently free on bail.

Thanks to the CNN.

Wednesday 7th September 2011

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