Source/Credit: CNN and Associated Press
London (CNN) — Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks was arrested Sunday in connection with British police investigations into phone hacking and police bribery, her spokesman told CNN.
She is being quizzed by police in London after having come in by appointment, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
Brooks did not know she was going to be arrested when she arrived, her spokesman Dave Wilson said.
She resigned on Friday as chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, which published the News of the World.
The company also did not know she was about to be arrested when it accepted her resignation, a News International source told CNN Sunday, asking not to be named discussing internal corporate affairs.
Brooks had agreed to testify Tuesday at a House of Commons hearing on the scandal. It’s not clear how her arrest will affect the hearing — committee member Louise Mensch, a Conservative MP, said the committee chair was “taking legal advice” on the situation.
She worked for Rupert Murdock, the Founder of the Fox News channel in USA. This news item needs to be understood in light of all the recent news about Repert Murdock and his recent apologies.
July 10 2011 photo of Rupert Murdoch and his News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks (right) who has resigned, the company confirmed Friday July 15 2011, as they battle a series of crises including accusations of phone hacking and police corruption. Only days earlier Murdoch had expressed his strong support for Brooks.
Categories: Law, Recent Headlines, UK
By CASSELL BRYAN-LOW, SARA SCHAEFER MUñOZ and ALISTAIR MACDONALD
LONDON—The head of Scotland Yard stepped down on Sunday and Rebekah Brooks—a close confidante of News Corp.’s top executive, Rupert Murdoch—was arrested as a convulsive phone-hacking scandal raced into the loftiest ranks of Britain’s business and law-enforcement worlds.
Rebekah Brooks, right, with former boss, Rupert Murdoch, last week.
.The surprise resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson came amid a spreading onslaught of allegations that some members of his force were corrupt and had forged too-close ties with the discredited newspaper at the heart of the scandal, News Corp.’s now-defunct News of the World.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304567604576451732627388162.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
David Cameron has said the Commons is likely to be recalled in order to consider the latest developments in the phone hacking scandal.
MPs were due to begin a six-week recess at the end of Tuesday.
But Labour have demanded an extra day’s sitting to enable MPs to debate what is said by Rupert Murdoch and Sir Paul Stephenson at committees on Tuesday.
The PM said it would be “right” to make a statement on Wednesday and answer questions “arising” from the hearings.
Pressure has been growing on the Commons to keep sitting on Wednesday as the scandal surrounding News International and the police continues to intensify.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14182535
News Corp. (NWSA)’s Rupert Murdoch is struggling to control the destiny of the company he began building six decades ago after a trusted deputy was arrested and Scotland Yard’s top official quit over ties to a suspect in the phone-hacking probe.
Independent directors of New York-based News Corp. have begun questioning the company’s response to the crisis and whether a leadership change is needed, said two people with direct knowledge of the situation who wouldn’t speak publicly. Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief who Murdoch backed until last week, was arrested yesterday in London.
“The shell of invulnerability that Rupert Murdoch had around him has been cracked,” said James Post, a professor at Boston University’s School of Management who has written about governance and business ethics. “His credibility and the company’s credibility are hemorrhaging.”
Murdoch and his 38-year-old son, James Murdoch, are spending most of their time with advisers preparing for tomorrow’s hearing before a parliamentary committee. They will face questions over their role in and responsibility for phone hacking that took place at their now-defunct News of the World tabloid. The company took out advertisements in national U.K. newspapers this weekend to apologize for the scandal.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Murdoch-Struggles-for-Control-bloomberg-4288078263.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=
Yahoo news reported:
“Asked by lawmakers why there was no investigation, Rupert Murdoch said: ‘I didn’t know of it.’
He said the News of the World “is less than 1 percent” of his News Corp., which employs 53,000 people.
Murdoch also said he was not informed that his company had paid out big sums — 700,000 pounds ($1.1 million) in one case — to settle lawsuits by phone hacking victims.”
One wonders, why such monopolies were allowed to develop?
Ref: http://news.yahoo.com/man-rushes-rupert-murdoch-hearing-160244558.html
David Cameron says James Murdoch “clearly” needs to answer questions from MPs after his evidence on phone hacking was challenged.
Labour’s Tom Watson wants a police probe after the evidence was disputed by two ex-News of the World executives.
The News International chairman had said he was not “aware” of an email suggesting hacking went beyond a single “rogue” reporter at the firm’s paper.
He has now written to an MPs’ committee to say he stands by his testimony.
Mr Murdoch appeared before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee on Tuesday alongside his father Rupert Murdoch, chairman of NI’s parent company News Corporation.
Former NoW editor Colin Myler and NI legal manager Tom Crone maintain they “did inform him” about the email.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14245922