In a report to be released Wednesday, a Parliamentary committee has found that News International "deliberately" blocked the hacking investigation.
Rupert Murdoch's News International has been found by a parliamentary committee to have "deliberately" tried to block a Scotland Yard criminal investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, the Guardian has learned.
Per The Guardian, the release of this report has been moved up to coincide with Prime Minister, David Cameron's expected statement Wednesday. The all-party home affairs committee MP's central finding represents an official judgement.
It finds the company deliberately tried to "thwart" the 2005-6 Metropolitan police investigation into phone hacking carried out by the News of the World.
The police investigation came at a time when Andy Coulson was editor. Coulson went on to be chosen by Cameron to be his director of communications, before resigning in January.
The home affairs committee appears to have been convinced by evidence from senior officers who were involved in the case that News International obstructed justice.
Peter Clark, the man who oversaw the first MET investigation into the hacking was quoted last week as saying:
"If at any time News International had offered some meaningful co-operation instead of prevarication and what we now know to be lies, we would not be here today."
It will be interesting to see how this report is received since just today we saw Rupert Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks testify in Parliament that they knew nothing about the hacking or any payoffs. If they also claim that they knew nothing of any attempts to quash the investigation they truly look incompetent. I suppose if your choice is between criminal and incompetent, the best you can hope for is that people choose the latter.
UPDATE: h/t to Garrett for providing the link to News Corp's Standards of Business Conduct which lays out why and how News Corp. could be prosecuted in the U.S. under the The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a U.S. law that forbids bribery of foreign (meaning non-U.S.) government officials, whether elected or appointed, even if the bribe takes place outside the United States. Because News Corporation is a U.S. corporation, the FCPA may apply to all Company employees everywhere in the world, regardless of their nationality or where they reside or do business.
Whether or not the Department of Justice will open an inquiry under the FCPA remains to be seen. Having the UK Parliament find News International obstructed the investigation would certainly be grounds to open an inquiry in the U.S. as to exactly how that obstruction took place.
Their defense today reminded me of this guy.