Phone hacking scandal: Cops to question Murdoch as a suspect

The Scotland Yard is all set to question media mogul Rupert Murdoch as a suspect in their ongoing investigation into alleged crimes at his newspapers, The Guardian reported.

This comes a day after a UK court convicted former News of the World editor Andy Coulson for phone-hacking but cleared fellow editor Rebekah Brooks of all charges in a months-long trial centering around criminal conspiracy to hack phones, emails and involving bribing public officials.

“The interview is expected to take place in the near future in the UK and will be conducted “under caution”, the legal warning given to suspects. His son James, who was the executive chairman of News International in the UK, may also be questioned,” the Guardian’s report says.

According the report in the Guardian , Scotland Yard detectives had reached out to Murdoch last year to question him but did not do so at the request of his lawyers, who asked to wait until the phone-hacking trial had ended.

The Scotland Yard’s decision to question Murdoch comes amid concurrent legal trouble facing him now. Citing the myriad legal actions facing him, a New York Times report says, “More trials loom, involving 20 current or former reporters from The Sun and News of the World, accused of phone hacking and paying public officials for information.” As per the Guardian report, Murdoch’s News UK may face legal action as well, aside from the spate of civil cases he is currently battling.

The police have been pursuing three broad areas of investigation into Murdoch’s media empire – alleged phone hacking at the News of the World, bribes paid to public officials by journalists and allegations that computers were hacked to access personal information.

Murdoch had appeared before the British parliament in 2011. At the time he had denied knowing anything about the criminal activities in his media empire, particularly the now-defunct British newspaper News of the World. “I knew nothing, and I’m sorry,” Huffington Post quoted him as saying during his appearance before the parliament.

The phone hacking scandal broke after it was discovered that for years the News of the World used illegal eavesdropping to get stories, including listening in on the voicemails of celebrities, politicians and even crime victims.

Read the full story here .