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| Brown's family was allegedly targeted for years |
British
politicians grilled four senior police officers, amid reports that former UK
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was targeted by British newspapers owned by Rupert
Murdoch in a phone-hacking scandal.
Four past
and present senior police officers appeared before a home affairs committee in
London on Tuesday to face questions about phone-hacking allegations related to
newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch's bid to take over BSkyB now hangs
in the balance.
Parliamentarians
asked them why the initial inquiry into phone-hacking and corruption allegations,
begun in 2005, failed to uncover evidence of hacking of crime victims'
voicemail messages.
Scotland
Yard, which is leading inquiries into the hacking and corruption allegations,
joined the fray with an unusual statement on Monday, condemning some media
reports as part of a "deliberate" attempt to undermine the probe.
It said
they had agreed with News International and their lawyers to keep certain
information confidential.
Serious
allegations
Reporters
working for Rupert Murdoch's British media operation News International may
have hacked former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's phone and breached his bank
account, police said on Monday.
The
allegations widen the scandal that began with revelations that the tabloid News
of the World, also owned by Murdoch's media empire, hacked the phones of
celebrities, the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as
murder victims.
The royal
family was also allegedly targeted by News of the World. The BBC and other
media outlets have said that a reporter working for the tabloid tried to pay
security guards for phone numbers belonging to the royal family.
News of the
World printed its last issue on Sunday after Murdoch ordered the 168-year-old
publication shut down. News International also operates The Sun, The Times and
The Sunday Times.
Police said
that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was working for News
International, hacked Brown's phone and gained access to his back account.
Brown was serving as the UK's finance minister at that time.
 |
| News of the World printed its last issue on Sunday |
"Gordon
Brown has been informed of the scale of intrusion into his family's life,"
Brown's spokesman said. "The family has been shocked by the level of
criminality and the unethical means by which personal details have been
obtained," he added. "The matter is in police hands."
Invasion of
privacy
A man working
for The Sunday Times allegedly posed as Brown in order to obtain the details of
his account at Abbey National Bank in January of 2000, according to the BBC.
The
Guardian newspaper also reported that The Sun obtained details from the medical
records of Brown's infant son. The paper revealed in 2006 that Brown's son,
Fraser, had cystic fibrosis.
Brown's
wife, Sarah, said on her Twitter page that she was "so sad to learn all I
am about my family's privacy - it is very personal and really hurtful if all true."
News
International said that it had taken note of the allegations and intended to
investigate them.
"So
that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information
concerning these allegations is provided to us," the company said in statement
issued on Monday.
BSkyB deal
jeopardized
 |
| Murdoch's bid to take over BSkyB has been put on ice for the time being |
Murdoch's
bid to expand his global media empire, News Corporation, through a takeover of
the pay-TV operator BSkyB has suffered a blow as the scandal surrounding his
British newspapers spreads.
Prime
Minister David Cameron's government announced that Murdoch's bid would be
referred to Britain's Competition Commission, which is set to launch a lengthy
probe of the pending deal.
Culture
Secretary Jeremy Hunt told parliament that he decided to refer the News
Corporation bid after Murdoch withdrew his previous offer to split off Sky News
from BSkyB. Murdoch made the offer last March to address concerns that he would
gain to much power over media.
Prime
Minister Cameron has come under pressure after police arrested former News of
the World editor Andy Coulson on Friday. Coulson had previously worked as
Cameron's media chief.
Cameron has
said that Murdoch should focus on cleaning up his business before seeking to
expand it.
"If I
was running that company right now, with all the problems and the difficulties
and the mess, frankly, that there is, I think they should be focused on
clearing those up rather than on the next corporate move," Cameron said.
Author:
Spencer Kimball, Joanna Impey (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Michael
Lawton
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